🌦️
don't mind me, just falling in love again and again (how many times has it been?)
emi | ENFJ | she/her | '08 | multi-fandom | huge self shipper
(heads up: I'm truly very sorry but I'm currently not in a position to donate)
ooooooo karasu x reader where theyre both academic rivals😛😛😛 theyre always fighting for the top spot in classes and such but are pushing each other to be the best. they also get together really slowly and are trying to keep the relationship secret (since everybody thinks they hate each other).
Do we see my vision?🥹🥹🥹 ty for acceptibg my req! Take your time writing too 🫶 always remember to take breaks, eat, and drink some water!!!🥹🙏
I SEE I SEE THANK YOU MMMWAH
earn first
karasu tabito x fem!reader. crack, fluff, rivals -> lovers
when you first laid eyes on karasu tabito, you thought for sure he’d be the one you greet at the end of your wedding aisle. with his intelligent navy eyes and sharp grin, calling yourself head over heels was almost an understatement.
and then he stole the spot of 1st in the class from you.
now, every look you shot at him wasn’t lovestruck and giddy. it was fueled on by the hate and rage of second place.
of course, karasu had to return every one with a sly little grin of his own, eyelids hooded in intrigue at your adorable hatred.
he was your self proclaimed rival, and who was he to deny you?
especially after the look of smug triumph you sent him after the professor publicly praised you for acing the exam and returning to your comfortable spot as first in the class.
yes. karasu was sure that was a sign of war.
the two of you kept this up all semester long. you spent countless hours studying material, reading textbook chapters over and over, writing notes until your fingers cramped and eyelids went numb.
but it didn’t matter. it all paid off when the grades came back.
you noticed the change immediately. karasu had swiped first place by a mere 0.4 points, and you had your nose buried in your study guides when a cup of coffee was placed on the table in front of you.
looking up, your brows knit together when you saw karasu leaning over your table with his lips pulled back in his signature smirk. his grin was intoxicating. you hated how much it made your heart race.
“drink up,” he drawled, pushing the cup closer to you with his knuckle. “gonna need yer energy to win back first.”
“earn first, you mean,” you snapped back, pulling the cup closer and taking a sip. your favorite. how had he known?
you almost thanked him before remembering yourself, and karasu smiled almost fondly when you humphed and turned away from him. “be gone. you’re distracting me.”
the use of ‘be gone’ had karasu’s head tipping back in laughter. “yeah, yeah. don’t study too hard. it’ll hurt more when i crush ya.”
that was all the motivation you needed, and when the test results came back, you openly cheered when you reclaimed your spot as top of the class.
it was strange, though. when you looked back to flash a smug grin at karasu, he was smiling fondly at you from his desk. almost like he was proud.
your interactions kept getting stranger after that.
you noticed early on that your chest didn’t burn with rage as it usually did when you passed him by in the hallway. your stomach didn’t recoil in indignation when he stayed later than you to study. in fact, some nights you found yourselves studying together.
strange.
strange, until karasu kissed you at the bus stop one night.
in class, your classmates remained split (team tabi vs team y/n) for who deserved first place, and it was an unspoken rule between you and karasu that you keep up the rivals facade.
with you in the lead, you noticed karasu staying later and later to study, attempting to steal first from you. it was cute, really, and when no one was around, you’d sneak candies on his table and shoot him little “don’t study too hard~💙” texts.
he didn’t listen and ended up scoring 2 points higher than you on an assignment that brought him up to first.
surprisingly, you caught yourself smiling as the teacher announced the class ranking. behind your hand and away from prying eyes, of course, but one set seemed to see right through you.
“i’ll earn it next time,” you mouthed from across the room, and your boyfriend’s smirk was smug despite the soft sparkles in his eyes.
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something, something, twst first-years, and how the rotten environment of night raven college has normalized some pretty awful situations and behaviors.
book 1’s ace trappola who was bitching and complaining the entire time about being punished after eating something he wasn’t supposed to. book 5’s ace trappola who gets punished for eating something he wasn’t supposed to, but then never brings it up ever again, because what’s even the point anymore?
book 1’s deuce spade who spends a good majority of it telling ace he needs to apologize to riddle, right up until riddle unfairly throws out the chestnut tart they worked so hard on. book 5’s deuce spade who’s first reaction to seeing ace try to stand up to vil is to tell him not to fight him… and it’s not until vil is actually trying to kill them that deuce ever takes it back.
book 2’s jack howl who breaks into leona’s room in an attempt to reason with leona and ruggie to stop them from injuring other students. book 3’s jack howl who decides that reasoning with octavinelle is completely off the table pretty much immediately.
book 0’s epel felmier, who was willing to throw down with anybody if they so much as looked at him the wrong way. book 5’s epel felmier, who tries to tell ace not to battle vil at the well, knowing exactly how it will end.
ignihyde gear ortho shroud, who filters out any negative comment about himself, and tells both deuce and idia not to worry when he gets expelled, but is willing to destroy whole hallways if someone so much as says a wayward word about his brother. school uniform gear ortho who — despite having his own identity now — still never addresses this. ever.
sebek zigvolt. just. in general. gets fleeting scraps of recognition, practically leftovers to whatever silver receives, and most attention he gets is either the bare minimum, purely for someone’s own amusement, or with silver, who he bickers with more often than not. if he ever thinks it to be even the slightest bit unfair, he berates himself for being so selfish. and it’s like this the whole game.
yuu, who gets thrown through the wringer for no reason except that they’re magicless. who goes through overblot after overblot and gets nothing in return except the ability to survive a little longer. and they’re expected to be grateful about it.
night raven college's first-years, who will only ever come out victorious if the only other options are death or eternal servitude to a tyrant.
twst first-years who are extremely impressionable, and have started to adopt their upperclassmen's little movement quirks.
deuce starts doing this thing where he'll reach his hand up, abruptly stop, and hastily put his hand back down, a bright blush going over his face. he only ever completes the action a total of one time, which ace is there to witness -- and of course, ace bursts out laughing when he realizes that deuce is trying to adjust his glasses like trey does, except deuce obviously doesn't wear glasses.
not to be outdone, deuce and yuu both catch ace saluting with a peace sign after they leave ramshackle. ace freezes mid-pose, which gives them ample time to realize why the gesture is so familiar. and as soon as it clocks, yuu and deuce proceed to mercilessly make fun of him for it for the next week, pulling up pictures of cater on magicam and and asking if they're secret siblings.
jokes on both ace and deuce, though, because before they know it, they're putting their hands to their chests and cocking their heads to the side like riddle does whenever he's feeling smug. and it's not until deuce and yuu have had their fun with ace's peace sign (which he will never do again (which is a lie, he totally will)) that yuu pulls up a bunch of photos, revealing that they've been doing this for months now, and they were just waiting for the right time to bring it up.
jack starts putting both hands behind his head whenever he's thinking just like ruggie does, and it's not until he catches epel looking at him oddly that he even realizes he's doing it. epel practically holds him at pen-point and asks what he's done to the real jack when jack puts his hand to the side of his forehead in a way that looks eerily reminiscent of what leona does when he's stressed.
soon after that, though, epel starts lifting his finger to the side of his face or lifting a whole hand whenever he's trying to make a point. they're such small gestures, but they strike untold fear into the hearts of his dormmates for reasons they can't understand -- until they see vil and rook striking the exact same poses when vil's lecturing epel about how to hold your teacup in the most elegant manner or rook's greeting someone he's stalked for the past two hours.
ortho's already inherited some of idia's attributes, so nobody thinks anything of it most of the time. then, in rare moment of shyness, ortho puts his hand on his arm, and everybody in his class starts flipping out, throwing chairs, and asking the universe why their only ray of sunshine is turning more and more like his gloomy brother with every passing day.
sebek gets a triple-whammy all in one day. while at lunch with the other freshmen, he puts his hand to the side of his face like silver does, puts his hand to his chin like lilia does, and even pouts like malleus does when yuu steals a bit of his macaroni. nobody mentions any of this to him, but yuu secretly takes pictures of it and sends them all to diasomnia.
yuu, of course, doesn't get out of this unscathed. in fact, they might have ended up the worst, because they slowly start to take cues from every upperclassmen/teacher they know.
they start beating their textbooks, rulers, whatever they have against their hand like it's a whip, in much the same way professor crewel does. they shrug with both hands outstretched now, sometimes looking like azul, sometimes looking like ruggie, and even sometimes looking like rook. one day, they catch themselves slumping their shoulders and shaking their head like idia does whenever he's tired.
the freshmen don't catch on very fast. when they do, they all agree that it's embarrassing, but they're too far gone to stop it now.
(the upperclassmen catch on pretty quick. if they're at all happy about it, they hide it well.)
Each time I think about how they took out the Goldy Pond arc, I get so angry. Cause like not only was it a good ass arc, getting rid of it takes out something integral to the story as a whole, that I just don’t think they realized/cared about:
The validation of Emma’s beliefs.
Emma is established to be this happy-go-lucky character right? And as the children are still in Grace Field, you see that she still keeps this demeanor while juggling the new graveness of the situation she is in. While losing some of her naivety, she still shows herself capable of being someone hopeful for the future who will not let her circumstances get the better of her. The most important part of what makes this WORK for her character (instead of making it annoying and unrealistic) is the fact that she both acknowledged and experiences the tragedy of the world she is trying to be hopeful in. It’s not some little girl being like “I believe everything’s gonna be fine! Sparkles and rainbows!” while being shielded from the darker parts of the world. It’s a little girl who looks in the face of the darkness and that terrible world and is in the MIDST of it. It’s a little girl who found the dead body of her younger sibling and was faced with the reality that her whole life was a lie. It’s a little girl who realized her whole family was going to die and fought to grab onto her hope despite how overwhelmingly bleak their situation was. She knew and yet she didn’t hesitate to believe that they could escape. She knew and still wanted to yell to the world that she was going to save EVERYONE. Seeing someone so unwaveringly hopeful even after being hit with devastating loss and despair is like a beacon for anyone else struggling to keep surviving. Emma is lovable for how she loves—how her hope and determination stands fast in the face of adversity and still goes forward even as more events threaten to shake and bend it.
For whatever reason season 2 was changed the way it was (I’ve heard many things)(if it was because of the guns then WHY pick up the anime in the first place bc you derail EVERYTHING) it could never stand completely without Goldy Pond.
Goldy Pond is in plain terms Emma’s defining arc. It seems to be pushing forward a question whose answer will define the rest of the series.
“Who is Emma?”
Not as she is with her siblings. Not as she is when there is her family there to keep her going. Who is Emma, and how will she grow from here on out?
Goldy Pond is the first time Emma is “alone”. She has none of her siblings around her and she is in an unfamiliar environment, with people she does not know. People by all means unconnected to her when she has a family to get back to and protect.
But Emma doesn’t treat them that way. She cares for each stranger she meets, jeopardizing her safety by using herself as bait—by charging forward into battle to protect them and change the demons’ focus. As the arc progresses and she meshes herself into the other children’s ranks, treating them as family as well, it seems to be clear what the answer is. As she serves as a distraction in this main fight. As she reminds them of details of HOW they can win this fight even when there seems to be no hope left. When she gets empaled and STILL takes a shot to kill Duke Leuvis.
Emma is hopeful and kind and self-sacrificing. She treats strangers as she would treat her family, and cares for all lives the same. She is so overwhelmingly forthright and sincere in her emotions and love, that you can’t help but want to support and follow her. That is who Emma is. She is not naive. She has seen death and battle and bleak circumstances but still rises to the challenge EVERY time — and most importantly this time was the bleakest so far. This time she was “ALONE”.
She has the experience behind her to make her care for all things “valid”. This is not a silly, childish little girl not knowing all the different aspects of her declarations. She says they will survive and you can take her for her word because she knows what it’s like to be near death. But specifically and more crucially for Goldy Pond (and therefore the rest of the series): Emma says that she wants to save demons. And with Goldy Pond, you can take her word for it.
When Norman declares that his way of saving everyone is to have a demon genocide, the most important part of this is that we as the readers support Emma and her viewpoint (that the demons should not be killed.) Her viewpoint is valid in the manga because of what she has gone through. Emma says she wants to save demons and we can take her for her word because she has experience at the hands of some of the worst cruelty from demons possible. She and other children were hunted for sport. She was placed in a mockery of a sanctuary and hunted down for demons entertainment—not for the demon’s hunger or survival but for FUN. And she still turns around and says that she believes there are GOOD demons.
Without this, Emma has nothing in her experience for her to stand toe to toe with Norman’s beliefs. She looks like a naive, silly child trying to justify a foolish dream when she has experienced nothing of the world. It’s practically an insult to Norman and his experiences and it doesn’t give off what it should to the watcher. How are we supposed to believe in Emma (and go against a GENOCIDE) when it seems as if the writers want to paint that the genocide is the reasonable answer (when it fucking ISNT). And this is all because without Goldy Pond, Emma doesn’t have the experience to be meaningfully hopeful. She can’t properly value her positive experience with Mujika because she doesn’t not have a big enough negative experience to weight it against (and gracefield isn’t good enough bc Norman has gone through more than that). For Emma to have weight, she needs to be able to weight the good and the bad and STILL choose good. To still choose to be hopeful and caring.
Getting rid of Goldy Pond got rid of such an important foundation of Emma as a character and I can never forgive them for that.
Summary: A magical illness is spreading through NRC, with some... rather adorable symptoms. AKA, all your friends are suddenly toddlers?!
AN: I actually ended up starting this waaaay back when I started writing fanfiction again, but sort of forgot about it and found it again recently. It's kind of at this point where I realized a lot my tics in writing. Thanks for reading!
Cross posed on my AO3 TheGhostInTheKitchen.
From “Aces High”: I’ve got ten madol that it’s someone from Diasomnia
From “Crocodile Tears”: As if! Diasomnia students are far too refined and disciplined for that!
From “Eple Pie”: I’ll match that bet, Ace!
From “Crocodile Tears”: Hey!
From “Astro Boy”: What happened, (Y/N)?
From “Perfect Prefect”: Look who I found!
From “Perfect Prefect”: Picture sent
From “Juice”: …
From “Eple Pie”: omg is right.
From “Jacked”: Is that…?
From “Aces High”: On my way!
Despite the vast campus of Night Raven College, the group of first years convened on the Ramshackle dorm within minutes of the picture being sent.
“Grim,” (Y/N) called out to her fireball cat monster roommate. “Can you make sure the front door is unlocked? I don’t want them busting it down like last time.”
“Can’t you do it? I’m still scrubbing ink out of my fur!”
(Y/N) lifted the bundle in their arms, the cause of the excitement. “Sort of got my hands full here.”
A slam and the sound of cracking wood emanate from the front hall, followed by, “(Y/N!)”
The prefect sighed. “Too late.”
Ace, Deuce, Jack, Epel, Ortho, and Sebek practically tripped over each other as they rushed into the sitting room, freezing in their tracks when they saw the Prefect and the small purple-and-white form they were cradling.
“So,” (Y/N) said, breaking the shocked silence. “I’m guessing this is one of those weird magic things?”
A large pair of blue-gray eyes peeked out from a mass of dark purple tentacles twisted around (Y/N)’s arms, gripping for dear life, before quickly ducking back down in hiding. The small figure emitted a small wail. (Y/N) bounced the tiny octopus-mer in their arms. “Shh, it’s alright, you’re okay, I’ve got you.”
Jack took a cautious step forward, reaching out a nervous hand. “Is that… really Azul?”
(Y/N) shrugged. “I mean, it has to be, right?”
“It has to be?” Epel echoed. “What the heck happened?
“I was hoping you guys would be able to help me figure that out. Azul came over this morning to talk about a bill someone had racked up at the Monstro Lounge.” (Y/N) not so subtly glared at Grim, who rolled his eyes and kept scrubbing at his octo-ink stained fur. “I left the room for just a second to get some tea and when I came back, boom! Baby Azul.”
“Oh, man, this is great,” Ace snickered while pulling out his phone. “This’ll be great blackmail the next time he tries to get us into a stupid contract.”
“Ace, wait-!”
Before (Y/N) could warn them, Azul reared back and spit a large black glob of ink at Ace’s phone, covering his phone and hands and splattering his uniform.
“Yeah, he doesn’t really like having his picture taken.”
“Ugh!” Ace waved his hands, sending ink spraying the other first years with black goop. “You got a picture!”
(Y/N) shrugged with a smirk. “Maybe he just likes me more.”
Ortho cautiously hovered closer. “My scans indicate this is in fact Azul Ashengrotto. There is some sort of magical residue surrounding his body.”
“You think someone cursed him?” Deuce asked. “Hey, stop!” He shouted as Ace tried to wipe the ink on his jacket.
Sebek crossed his arms. “I wouldn’t be surprised, considering what he tries to get away with.”
Azul started sniffling. “Hey, knock it off!” (Y/N) defended.
Ortho tilted his head, examining Azul closer. Azul reached out a hand, fascinated by the lights on Ortho’s body and glowing hair. “I don’t recognize this kind of magical resonance from any curses,” Ortho said. “But I can research and find out! Idia might know something!”
“What are you going to do with him?” Jack asked, poking a tentacle that was wrapped tightly around (Y/N)’s arm.
“I’m going to drop him off with Jade then let the Headmage know what’s going on. You know, see if he actually has any answers for once.”
“Mrow!” Grim yelled, frustrated, throwing down the ink-stained rag he had been desperately using to try and clean his fur. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but that octo-punk is gonna pay for ruining my perfect fur!”
Epel sighed. “Hang on, Vil taught me some ways to get stains out. Maybe I can help. Prefect, do you have hairspray?”
“Check the upstairs bathroom, Grim can show you. Ortho, let me know if you find anything out, okay?”
Ortho saluted. “Roger that!”
Sebek rubbed his chin in thought. “Lilia might know something. And if anyone can reverse a curse, it would be Lord Malleus! Ashengrotto should be eternally grateful for the future king’s assistance-!”
“I’ll come with you to Octavinelle,” Jack cut in, purposefully ignoring Sebek’s offended look at being interrupted.
“Deuce and I have to report back to Heartslabyul,” Ace said as the two card soldiers flicked ink at each other. “If Riddle sees us like this we’ll be on hedgehog duty for a month.”
(Y/N) nodded. “Sounds like we have a plan, then. Let me know if anyone hears anything. Or maybe sees anymore babies.” They rubbed their nose against baby Azul’s, causing the little house warden to giggle.
The first years all went their separate ways, Jack, (Y/N), and their squirming package headed to the mirror chamber.
“Do you think he needs water?” Jack asked. “He’s a merman after all.”
(Y/N) carded their fingers through Azul’s soft, fluffy hair. “I gave him some earlier and he seemed okay. I’m sure the less time out of water is better though. We don’t want any octo-jerky, do we, Azul?” They tickled him under his chin.
Jack couldn’t help the smile that stretched across his face. As many problems as he had with the cunning and scheming house warden, he couldn’t help but be reminded of his younger siblings back home. “You’re good with children.”
The prefect blinked up at him, surprised. “You think?”
“You’ve managed to keep a rein on that one, at least. He looks like he’ll burst out crying the second you stop paying attention to him.”
“Hmm. Maybe I’m just spoiling him, then. That’s okay, though, right, Azul? You’re cute enough to spoil, right?” (Y/N) held him up, his tentacles wrapping tight around their arms. He made grabby hands to come back closer, giggling and basking in the attention. Jack chuckled and (Y/N) mockingly glared at him. “We never say a word of this when he turns back, of course.”
Jack nodded seriously. “Of course.”
“(Y/N)! Jack!” The two stopped. Kalim waved at them, jogging over with Jamil following behind. “Hi! What’s going on?”
“I would love to know,” (Y/N) said, shrugging.
Kalim stopped in his tracks, causing Jamil to almost crash into him, as he spied Azul. Kalim practically squealed with delight and rushed over. “Oh my gosh! How cute! Does Azul have a little brother?”
“Not… exactly,” (Y/N) said. She quickly summarized the situation.
While Kalim gushed over the toddler, Azul was more interested in Jamil, reaching out with his chubby hands and tentacles to try and wrap around his hands. “Aww,” Kalim said. “He remembers you!”
“I don’t know how much of that is a good thing,” Jamil scowled, torn between jerking his hands away and indulging the mer-boy in his exploration.
“Jamil, you know everything, got any ideas?” (Y/N) asked.
Jamil huffed, a small smile playing on his lips. “Not everything, apparently. Some sort of curse, obviously, but other than that I’m sure you would need to do some type of testing.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of what we thought.”
They said their goodbyes, Kalim waving enthusiastically at Azul who really didn’t seem to know how to respond to his exuberance.
The trio arrived at the mirror chamber, stepping through to Octavinelle. The temperature immediately dropped several degrees due to the water surrounding the dorm, suspended in the air around the building and walkways. The light took on a cool blue tint, interrupted by the shadows of fish darting through the water. (Y/N) often wondered if the dorm was actually underwater or if this was some sort of illusion to help the mer students that made up the majority of the dorm feel more at home.
“I have to admit,” Jack said, looking around for either of the Leech twins. “The more I think about leaving Azul here, the more nervous I get.”
(Y/N) shrugged. “Jade is good in a crisis and Floyd is surprisingly gentle with kids. Plus, they were all friends when they were little, maybe Azul will recognize them or something.” She frowned in thought. “Although, now that you mention it, I do suppose this would be a perfect opportunity to take advantage of.”
“My, I didn’t realize you had such a low opinion of us.” (Y/N) and Jack jumped, spinning to face the Ocatvinelle vice-housewanden. He was smiling slyly but wiped away a fake tear from his eye. “And here I thought we had built a trusted rapport.”
“Depends on the crisis, maybe,” (Y/N) said. “Or the potential reward.”
“Ooh, are we talking about rewards?” Floyd slid next to (Y/N), throwing a causal arm around their shoulders. “Not sure if it’s worth the effort, but I’ll take-” He cut himself off, eyes growing wide. He jerked forward, putting himself nose to nose with the tiny octo-mer. “No way, no way! Jade, check this out!”
“Oh dear,” Jade said, stepping forward. He actually looked surprised for once. “Isn’t this a blast from the past?”
Azul let out a small wail as Floyd started poking at him and tugging his tentacles. (Y/N) smacked his hand. “Hey, cut it out! Poor thing is having a hard day.”
“What exactly happened?” Jade asked. He chucked as Azul puffed up his cheeks in annoyance.
“We were hoping you might have an idea,” Jack said.
“He showed up at Ramshackle today normal, then, well… I didn’t see when it happened.”
Floyd snatched Azul out of (Y/N)’s arms, ignoring their protest, and held him high up. “Aww, aren’t you a cute little guppy? Maybe we should just keep you like this for a while. You don’t yell at me nearly as much!”
Azul puckered his lips in a now familiar motion. “Floyd, look out-!” (Y/N) tried to warn.
In the next second, Floyd’s face was covered in black ink. Jack and (Y/N) froze in tense anticipation. Floyd blinked before his sharp toothy smile split across his face. He burst out laughing, cuddling Azul, who was writhing in a desperate attempt to escape. “You haven’t done that since we were kids!”
Jade gently pried Azul away from Floyd, using a handkerchief to dab away dribbling ink from Azul’s face. “Perhaps I should bring him to our swim tank. Floyd, would you mind grabbing a pot and lid from the Monstro Lounge kitchen?”
Floyd frowned. “Aww, but if he hides I can’t pinch his big cheeks anymore!”
“That’s exactly the point.”
(Y/N) took a step back, worry about Azul’s condition and care growing smaller but not disappearing completely. “I’m going to go ask Crowley if he has any idea what’s going on. I’ll let you guys know once I know something.”
Jade waved a hand. “Please, take your time. I think we’ll have a fine time together, won’t we, Azul?”
“Uh, yeah, we’ll leave it to you guys, then.” (Y/N) ruffled Azul’s hair. “Bye, buddy. I’ll see you soon and hopefully we’ll get back to normal.”
Floyd hummed thoughtfully. “Hey, how much do you think he’ll remember when he turns back?”
As Jack and (Y/N) left Octavinelle, Jack decided to go back to Savanaclaw. “I’ll ask Leona if he has any idea about this, too. He may not like putting effort into things, but he is probably one of the most talented mages here.”
“Sounds good. Thanks for your help.” They parted ways and (Y/N) headed back to the main school building to talk to Crowley. Heading up the stairs, their phone rang, #CayCay showing up on the caller ID. “Hey, Cater, what’s up?”
“Uh, hey,” Cater said, slightly panicked, although he was clearly still trying to sound carefree. “Ace and Deuce were with you earlier, right? Were they, uh, okay?”
(Y/N) blinked, a nervous churning settling in their stomach. “Yeah? Ace kind of got, uh, in a mess, but they were okay when they left. What happened?”
“Oh, you know, it’s probably fine, Riddle’s looking into- No, wait! Deuce, don’t put that in your mouth!”
The line suddenly went dead. (Y/N) spun back down the stairs and sprinted to the Heartslabyul mirror portal.
Stepping through the mirror portal into Heatslabyul immediately assaulted (Y/N) with the scent of roses laced with sugar. Much brighter than Octavinelle, it was more confusing in its layout, with twisting paths that often doubled back on each other and confusing topiary walls. But (Y/N) was able to beeline to their destination, following the alarmed yelling.
“I’m here, I’m here!” She said, sliding into part of the garden where they often held unbirthday parties. “What happen- oh.”
(Y/N) had gotten used to the sight of a younger Azul, but the child Ace and Deuce sent a whole new wave of confusion and dread through them. The two of them were wrestling, getting grass stains on their uniforms with cake smooshed on their faces. Cater cooed from a distance safe from cake splatter taking pictures with his phone.
“(Y/N)! There you are!” (Y/N) turned to greet Trey but froze. He held a small, scowling redhead child.
“Oh. Oh, no.”
“That’s not an inaccurate read of the situation,” Trey said, chuckling as the little Riddle yelled at Ace and Deuce to stop roughhousing and getting dirty.
(Y/N) quickly explained the situation that had happened that morning with Azul. “They were fine when they left! It wasn’t even an hour ago.”
“We’re not sure what happened either,” Trey said. “Another student came to get me a minute ago. He said Riddle was lecturing Ace and Deuce for getting their uniforms dirty with ink, however that happened,” (Y/N) gulped and looked away. “Then there was a crash and they were just like this.”
(Y/N) sighed and put their hands on their hips. “At this point I kind of just accept this magic nonsense can do anything.”
“Have you asked any of the teachers about it yet?”
“I was heading to Crowley when Cater called me. Hey, Cater, did you see- Oh, come on.” Cater had now joined Ace and Deuce playing on the lawn, albeit in a much younger form. He tapped the screen of his phone hard, seemingly taking more delight in the random colors and shapes than the actual function of anything.
“Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Come on, Trey, let’s bring them to the Headmage, or the infirmary at the very least. Trey?” (Y/N) closed their eyes, taking a deep breath. “If I turn around and you're a kid, Trey, I think I just might scream.” They opened their eyes and looked around. Riddle and a tiny Trey, with glasses too big for his face, were hiding under the white metal table in the garden, playing cards. “Okay, fine, it’s too cute for me to scream. But I’m still very annoyed.” They snuck their phone out to get a couple of quick snapshots of the Heartslabyul children. Thoroughly documented for future reference, and future embarrassment, (Y/N) leaned under the table. “Riddle, sweetheart, can you help me get everyone in order? We’re going on a little field trip.”
Riddle jumped up to attention, tiny face set in determination. He raced out, corralling Ace, Deuce, and Cater over to (Y/N). Ace and Deuce raced around their legs before Ace tripped and fell. His eyes started to well up with tears. (Y/N) quickly leaned down and swept him up in their arms. They decided to ignore how Ace stuck his tongue out at Deuce. Compromising by holding Duece’s hand, she lead the small group back through the mirror portal to the Headmage’s office.
She had to use her foot to kick open the door. “Crowley, we’ve got a problem.”
“I am perfectly aware of the situation! Oh, it appears I am not perfectly aware.”
(Y/N) stopped to take in the chaos of Crowley’s office. Not only was a tiny Vil with perfect posture scolding a roughed-up-looking Epel with Rook, his hat engulfing his now little head, tugged on Vil’s sleeve for his attention, but a small Leona was curled up in a patch of sunlight snoozing. A young Ruggie was sneakily going through drawers on Crowley’s desk, and a child Jack was gently petting a tiny charcoal kitten with a forked tail and blue flames coming out of his ears munching on cookies. A toddler Jamil was hovering over a small and smiling Kalim who was drawing with markers on what looked like important school paperwork. Although, there was more drawing on his and Jamil’s skin than the actual paper. Possibly most surprising, however, were the three pre-teens and an exhausted-looking teenager around the room. They also looked concerningly familiar.
(Y/N) blinked, setting down Ace and Deuce who rushed off to play with a rambunctious Epel. “Professors? Coach? Sam?”
The much younger Professor Crewel huffed and put his hands on his hips. “If one more person calls me ‘professor’ I’m going to scream.”
“Come on, Divus!” The younger, but still surprisingly buff, Coach Vargus said. “Have an adventure! This isn’t all bad!” Vargus fell on his back, scooping up Kalim and Cater who were running around and used them as press weights while the two giggled. A young Sam was listening very intently to Vil and Rook’s conversation, even if most of it was incoherent babbling.
“So,” (Y/N) said hesitantly. “That would make you…” They looked at the person who had been reduced to around their age.
“Mozus Trein,” He said matter of factly. He held Lucius, still a full-grown cat who looked even bigger in the young boy’s hands. “I take it I am a teacher here as well?”
“Uh, yeah. You don’t remember?”
He sniffed. “I can’t exactly remember something that hasn’t happened to me yet, now can I?”
“So you all have just always been like this. Okay, cool. Crowley?”
Crowley looked up from playing with Deuce, who was fascinated by the former’s mask. “Hm? Oh, yes, well, as near as I can understand, there seems to be some sort of magical virus curse. It’s spread through contact, so our best bet of minimizing effect would be to enact a quarantine.” He lifted Deuce’s hands in celebration. “Sleepover! Yay!”
(Y/N) rubbed the bridge of their nose, feeling a headache coming on. “Okay, I get how that might have happened to these guys, but what about the professors?”
Crowley waved a hand. “Bucci came to my office earlier with Kingscholar and Howl. Immediately sensing the issue at hand, for I am intuitive and precise, I called forth our faculty to help round up any other signs of infection. Although, it seems our virus is more contagious than I first thought.”
(Y/N) scratched behind the kitten Grim’s ears. He blinked up at them with large blue eyes and let out a tiny, “Mew.” (Y/N) felt their heart melt a little.
“What about me?” She asked. “I’ve been in contact with everyone who’s changed but I’m still fine.”
“I would assume the virus spreads through magic,” The young Professor Trein said. “If you have no magical ability, you’re cut off from the method of infection.”
“It also appears not all of us have been reduced to the same age,” Boy-Professor Crewel added. “It probably has something to do with how old we all were originally, cutting back by a set number of years.”
“And any idea how long it will last?” (Y/N) asked hesitantly.
“No idea!” Crowley said, with not nearly enough seriousness that the situation required, lifting Ruggie into the air, his pockets bursting with various office supplies he had plundered from around the room.
“Oh, man,” (Y/N) groaned. They jerked back to attention. “Oh, man! I left Azul with Jade and Floyd! If he’s patient zero he’s probably spread the infection already!”
Crowley nodded. “It would be imperative to retrieve them, as well as anyone else infected. We’ll meet in the gymnasium until we have a further understanding of how long this should last.”
“Alright, I’ll go get them and- Wait! Sebek! He was heading back to Diasomnia! He might have infected someone else. I’ll check there then- Really?”
Now, a boy about fifteen in a long feathered coat with a black bird mask bounced Ruggie on his knee. “Hmm? Did something happen?”
“Don’t worry,” Professor Crewel said, even if it felt strange calling him that when he appeared so young. “We’ll take care of it. We’ll meet you in the gym.”
(Y/N) nodded. “Alright, team, we’ll all meet up in an hour at the gym. Coach Var- uh, Ashton? Can you stop by the kitchens to ask the ghosts to make us something for dinner? If we’re all quarantined we won’t want to stop by during rush hour in the cafeteria. Sam, check out the infirmary and grab blankets and anything else that’ll make spending the night more comfortable. We’ll work on a more permanent solution tomorrow. Mozus, Divus, and Crowley, I’m trusting you three to keep all the kids in order and get them to the gym safely.”
“Go, Team, go!” Ashton shouted, encouraging the other children to cheer. He swept the sleeping Leona up, who growled and kicked at the older boy.
“Go, team,” (Y/N) echoed weakly.
Nervously leaving the group to migrate to the gym, (Y/N) made their way back to Octavinelle to see if the, admittedly kind of funny and cute, virus had spread further. On their way across campus, (Y/N) pulled out their phone and fired a quick text to Ortho.
From “Perfect Prefect”: What are the chances you haven’t made it back to the dorm yet?
From “Astro Boy”: Poor! I’ve been back for 23 minutes and 15 seconds!
From “Perfect Prefect”: And I’m guess Idia is a lot smaller now?
From “Astro Boy”: Picture sent
(Y/N) tapped open the attached picture. It was a selfie of Ortho, his eyes twinkling brightly in enthusiastic excitement. He held the phone up high, capturing the image of him holding a toddler sized Idia practically swimming in his already oversized jacket. The tiny Ida had tears pricking the corners of his large yellow eyes, clutching a soft purple demon-looking plush.
From “Astro Boy”: Now I’m the big brother!
From “Perfect Prefect”: Crowly says it’s a virus. I’m guessing it’s a safe bet that Idia hasn’t been around anyone recently? We’re quarantining in the gym till we figure this out.
From “Astro Boy”: I’ll bring games!
(Y/N) jogged back to the mirror chamber, bursting through the portal back into Octavinelle. She did a quick sweep of the Monstro Lounge, interrogating a few confused student-waiters, then headed to the dorm proper. Nothing in the main lobby, a few clusters in the study room, just drying clothes in the laundry room. She just about missed the kitchen, swerving so hard she thought she might have given herself whiplash as she turned.
There was a crowd of Octavinelle students, dressed in their crisp lilac and black uniforms, standing in a rough circle, looking at something on the floor. She just caught the end of a flailing green tail as a student reached down to touch the wiggling mass.
“Don’t!” She yelled, causing the whole ensemble to jump. She steadied herself with her hands on her thighs, breathing heavily now that the adrenaline had caught up with her. “Don’t,” She said again. “They might be contagious.”
The gathering flinched away as (Y/N) made her way to what they had been surrounding. There was the familiar sight of the squirming Azul, cheeks puffy with a pout and crossed chubby arms. His tentacles were all tangled up with two long string-bean eels, fluctuating their bodies like ribbons on the linoleum floor. Even as children, mirror opposites of each other, it was pretty easy to tell who was who from their actions. Floyd has wrapped himself around one of Azul’s many limbs, gnawing at one. Jade is also wrapped in his tentacles, but it looks like he draped them over himself. He chatted at Azul in a mixture of child-babble and what sounds like local mer dialect. (Y/N) squatted down, hand covering her mouth, as she contemplated the situation. Azul spotted her, raising his arms up and looking at her in a way that made her heart clench. Floyd and Jade matched his pose, their cries more delighted and excited than Azul’s worried ones.
“Alright, come here,” (Y/N) said, gathering the trio of slippery mer-babies in her arms. “I don’t suppose you guys have a tank around here somewhere? And maybe a trolley or wagon?”
The, still confused but helpful, students rushed around. After a few minutes, two of them carried a large fish tank between them, another pulling a small black flatbed cart behind them. (Y/N) loaded the kids into the tank, having to tug and pull to extract them from their tight grip on her, Azul leaving little circular suction marks on her hands and arms. With a hand on her hip, she pulled the faucet from the sink and filled up the tank.
She gave her number to a couple of third years who had stepped up in a semblance of a leadership role, telling them to text her if anyone else came down with symptoms. After reassuring the Octavinelle students, as much as she could considering she herself was trying not to panic, (Y/N) pulled her new load out through the mirror portal to the gym.
She felt a splash of water on the back of her head, turning to see the three of them ducking back down into the water, giggling mischievously. “Uh-huh,” (Y/N) said, wiggling her fingers at them. “I see you.” No sooner had she turned back to start walking than another cold splash of water soaked her head. She whipped back around, jumping near the tank with a big smile and hands up in claws, much to the shrieking delight of the small children. Even Azul had started to smile, laughing along and swimming around with Floyd and Jade.
(Y/N) saw Ortho flying across campus, a thick dark blue bundle securely in his arms. A Premo branded canvas back was slung over his arm, packed with board and card games, and a few gaming systems and cartridges. She called his name and waved, Ortho stopping to wait for her to catch up.
“Let me see, let me see,” (Y/N) said. Ortho was just as giddy as he held up the small toddler. Even when he was young, Idia still had his long fiery blue hair. His bright yellow eyes were huge in his puggy face, cheeks looking like he was hiding giant marshmallows in his mouth. He blinked up at the two of them, face scrunching up before sneezing. His hair flared for a second before sighing and rubbing his face. (Y/N) and Ortho both ‘aww’ed as Idia tried to hide by burying his face in Ortho’s glowing chest.
“Think you can take care of these guys, too?” (Y/N) asked. “I still need to check on Disomania. I’ve tried texting but haven’t heard anything back from them.” Ortho saulted, taking hold of the flatbed handle. The three tiny mers splashed, trying to catch the glowing reflections of Ortho’s and Idia’s hair on the water.
(Y/N) had to run interference back on her way to the mirror chamber for the umteenth time that day. By that point, most of the campus had heard about the magical virus, and the rather adorable symptoms. She reassured them that yes, they had everything under control. Yes, they were keeping track of who was affected. Yes, classes were canceled for the rest of the day. Yes, it was all going to be solved pretty soon. Probably.
She paused back in the mirror chamber, taking a second to catch her breath. Steadying herself for whatever trouble she would find in the Thorn Fairy’s dorm, she pushed through the Magic Mirror. She blinked in the diminished light, the sky perpetually covered by threatening storm clouds. The dorm loomed over her, reminiscent of some twisted gothic cathedral. The interior did nothing to diminish this facade, all marble floors, large arched windows, and dark stone walls with green fire sconces.
“Psst!” (Y/N) stopped in the strangely empty common room, looking around for the hissed whisper. “Psst! Prefect! Over here!” A first year was frantically waving to her from his hiding behind a massive tapestry. Now that she was paying closer attention, she was able to pick out more and more students, trying to dart between hiding places to make their way through their own home.
“What’s going on?” (Y/N) asked. “Did you guys hear about the virus?”
“Virus?” He repeated. “No, I just wanted to warn you that you need to be careful. Vice-Housewarden Lilia is - Ack!” He cut himself off, darting off and slamming a door behind him down the hall as he escaped.
Brow furrowed, (Y/N) turned, freezing just as a cold razor sharp edge met her throat. Her eyes traveled from the jade colored oversized cleaver down the arm that held it up effortlessly, to the familiar yet strange face of the person who held it. It certainly looked like Lilia, for the most part anyway. The same large ruby eyes, now narrowed and sharp, the same mouth with fangs peaking over the edge to bite into his lower lip, pulled into a frown, the same bi-colored hair, now much longer and a deep red pigmentation instead of the soft pink.
(Y/N) put her hands up and tried to look as non-threatening as possible. “Lilia,” She said, willing her voice not to shake. “I know you’re probably confused right now, but I-”
“Quite, human,” He snapped, to which (Y/N) immediately obliged. “You’re not going to try and confuse me more than I already am.”
“Okay, yeah, sure. But, and this may surprise you, this is not the first, nor probably the last, time I’ve been in mortal peril, so the effect has kind of lost its edge. Present company notwithstanding.” She pushed away the massive weapons with one finger on its slicing edge.
Lilia scowled and pushed the magearm back. “I said quite. I need to think. One minute I’m in the Briar Valley overseeing training and the next I’m… wherever this is.”
“Night Raven College, if that helps.”
Lilia scoffed. “I told you all I wouldn’t accept your enrollment invitation. Does such a ‘prestigious’ school resort to kidnapping now?”
“I wouldn’t put it past them, really.”
“Listen here, human-”
“Papa!”
Both of their eyes snapped down. A small boy with silver-white hair was tugging the hem of Lilia’s shirt, rubbing his eyes with a tiny fist. He reached up, grabbing at the air.
“Up, up!”
Lilia looked from the small Silver back to (Y/N) several times before renewing his scowl. “What is this? Some kind of human trick? You use children in your schemes now?”
“I think he just wants you to hold him for his nap.”
“Listen you-”
“Papa?” They both looked down again, Silver’s arms still extended, waiting. His tiny, cherubic face has started to crumble, lips wobbling in confusion, tears gathering.
Lilia hissed in a sudden breath. Taking a step back, he leaned down, keeping his eyes and weapon trained on (Y/N), and scooped Silver up with one arm. He cradled the boy close to his chest. Silver sighed contently, wrapping his chubby arms around Lilia’s neck and snuggling into his chest.
“I-” Lilia started, trying to regain some of his bravado despite the napping toddler he was gently holding.
“Silver!” A boisterous voice echoed down the stairs. “Where’d you go? We gotta keep training so we can defend the Briar Valley! I’m gonna win this time, just watch!” He tripped down the last few stepped, falling hard on his knees.
“Sebek!” (Y/N) called, taking a step to him before being cut short by Lilia rushing forward.
Sebek sniffed loudly, pushing himself up, face turning red at the effort of keeping his tears at bay.
“There now, soldier,” Lilia said, kneeling down. “A warrior of the Briar Valley must keep his composure in the face of battle, yes?”
Sebek looked up and gasped. He jumped up to attention, retrieving the fallen play sword he had dropped. “Yes, sir, General Lilia, sir!” He said, saluting.
Lilia chuckled, ruffeling Sebek’s hair. “By any chance, young one, you’re not related to Baur Zigvolt, are you?”
“Is Grandpa here? I’m gonna show him how strong I got! Look, look!” He exaggerated flexing. Noticing Silver fast asleep, he frowned, an impressively frustrated look for such a small boy. “Silver! You’re sleeping again!”
“Nooo,” Silver whined, burying himself further in Lilia’s chest.
Sebek kept jumping up to tug on Silver’s shirt until Lilia set him down. Sebek immediately grabbed the still sleepy boy’s hand and dragged him away, waving his sword at the various still hiding Disamonia residents and talking about all the adventures they were going to have. Lilia watched them wreak havoc, a small content smile making its way on his face without his noticing.
He schooled his features back into stoney fury when (Y/N) sidled up next to him, clearing her throat. “So, I bet you have some questions.”
While Lilia was skeptical about (Y/N)’s explanation, he was more acceptable to going to a more secure location. They went to the gym, Lilia holding Silver’s hand in one of his, his large magearm slug over his other shoulder. Sebek kept watch in front of the group, jumping and swinging his sword and marching while promising to protect them and become a great knight. The sun had dipped below the horizon, casting the campus in warm gold and pink light, stretching shadows along the pathways.
(Y/N) pushed open the doors of the gym, the clatter and cacophony of excited children immediately pouring out. Ortho was playing some high energy kind of children’s music from his built-in speakers, flashing colorful lights to the beat. Jamil and Cater were dancing, holding hands and spinning around and around until they got so dizzy they collapsed in a fit of giggles.
Idia was sitting in front of the water tank, a board game laid out in front of him. Azul had his face pressed closed to the glass, pointing to indicate his moves for the game. Frustrated at a move Idia, who smirked triumphantly, made, one of Azul’s tentacles shot out of the tank to aggressively move his piece, crossing his arms with a self-satisfied smirk.
On the other side of the tank, Riddle and Trey were throwing a ball between each other then into the tank where Floyd would whack it with his long tail sending it carrining back out of the water. The two other boys would squeal and run around, trying to catch the ball and smack it back up before it touched the ground.
Jack was sitting with his back against the tank, a large seek-and-find picture book open on his lap. Jade was leaning half way out of the tank, occasionally dipping back down to look over Jack’s shoulder. Jack would lift the book up for Jade to get a better look at and they both would point out the various hidden objects.
Vil was sitting on his knees, braiding Leona’s hair. Leona’s tail twitch. He snapped his teeth at Vil’s hands. “Stop!” Vil said, commanding even as a child. Leona nipped again, half-heartedly. Vil huffed, fists on his hips. “Stop!” Leona rolled his eyes, yawned loudly, then rolled over, letting Vil continue unbothered.
Rook, Kalim, Ruggie, Epel, Ace, and Deuce were all involved in an intense game of freeze tag, supervised by Vargus. Seeing the newcomers, Ace cheated and broke his freeze by running over to them, grabbing Sebek and Silver’s hands and pulling them into the game. Sebek yelled in protest but made no attempt to avoid joining. Silver waved goodbye to Lilia before tagging Epel back into the game.
Sam and Trien were at a makeshift cooking station, a couple of portable food warmers under disposable aluminum foil trays, dividing up dinner of spaghetti, garlic bread, and a thrown together salad to try and pretend they were being healthy. This idea was quickly dismissed as Sam took off the cover of a tray of thick fudgy brownies. Kitten Grim would jump on the table and try to shove his face into the trays to get an early bite, only to be gently pushed off, where the process would repeat almost immediately. Crewel was rolling out mats and sleeping bags in another corner of the gym, rolling his eyes at Crowley who was giving some dramatic speech.
“This…” Lilia started. “Isn’t exactly what I imagine Night Raven College to be like.”
“Yeah,” (Y/N) said. “Usually things are more on fire.” She couldn’t help but smile at Lila’s baffled expression.
She started counting heads, rounding up each dorm as the children all gathered together to get their dinner. She frowned, her suspicions confirmed.
“We’re missing one.”
“Hmm?” Crowly said. “I can’t think of anyone else.”
“Yeah, that tracks. Sit tight, I think I know where he is.”
A wind has started to blow across campus, twirling fallen leaves and casting a chill across (Y/N)’s exposed skin. Soon, the gloomy facade of Ramshackle dorm loomed on top of the hill. She opened the old iron gate, scanning around the yard. And there, just like she knew he would be, was a young boy with black horns.
He was staring up at the eaves and roof of the old house. To anyone else, it would have looked like he was watching the appearing stars in the sky, tracking constellations. But (Y/N) knew better, matching his gaze to the various gargoyles arranged around the dorm. She ducked inside, grabbing a quilt from one of the couches in the sitting room. She draped the blanket over his shoulders, crouching down next to him. He didn’t look away, only moving to clutch the quilt tighter over his slight frame.
“They’re pretty cool, right?” (Y/N) said.
“I like that one,” Malleus says, pointing to a gargoyle on the corner of the roof, crouched like a frog with stone wings forming an umbrella over his head, mouth open in a ghoulish grin.
“I call him Clyde. He doesn't really work anymore though.”
“Oh,” Malleus said, disappointed.
“Robins build their nest in his mouth. A friend of mine helped me block off the drain pipe so the birds wouldn’t get flushed out without hurting the statue. He really likes gargoyles, but we both thought the sacrifice was worth it.”
“Oh,” Malleus said again, more intrigued. “Are there babies?”
“Yup. They’re all bald with big eyes and their mama will swoop at your face if you get too close.” She replicated the swooping motion with her hand, ending with a boop on Malleus’s nose.
Giggling, Malleus points to another beastial gargoyle. “What about that one?”
“That’s Fredrick, but we call him Freddie. See how he’s facing that other one on the other roof? She’s Isabella and they’re hopelessly in love. A little while ago, they had a fight and Isabella turned around. Which was kind of a problem because then all the water she was draining away went right into the second floor bathroom. It was a really cold shower.” She exaggerated shivering, rubbing up and down her arms.
She continued pointing out the various sculptures around Ramshackle dorm, retelling Malleus all the stories and facts the older version of him had told her what seemed ages ago. The child Malleus would occasionally cut in with facts about gargoyle construction or history, enthusiastic to be sharing his precious information with a fellow gargoyle appreciator.
“You know,” (Y/N) said, the two of them sitting on the lawn, fireflies gently floating around them. “I met a gargoyle that could talk once.”
He gasped, jolting up on his knees. “Really? Where, where? What did it say?”
“Well, we were kind of in the middle of something important when we first met. But after we got all of that sorted he was really nice! He lived in a big bell tower that looked over the whole city and told us all about his friends who lived there. He had one friend who was really sad, and being sad made him angry. But the gargoyle helped us understand what his friend was feeling and helped us make everything better. And now we’re all friends! I think so, anyway. Not sure if Rollo would agree if I asked him…” She trailed off, speaking the last part mostly to herself.
Malleus sat back down. “I don’t have many friends,” He said in a small voice. “The palace is really big and there’s not a lot of people in it. Do you think he’d be my friend too?”
Imagining the scowl Rollo would probably give her for her answer, (Y/N) smiled and said, “Absolutely. I can be your friend, too, if you want.”
“Really?”
“It’s a promise. And I know some other people who would want to be your friend, too. They’re with Lilia in-”
“Lilia is here?” Malleus jumped up, eyes wide and smiling. “Where, where? Did he go traveling again? Did he bring me back a present? He brings me flags from all the places he’s been! They’re called, uh, they’re called…” He frowned, thinking hard.
“Pennants?”
“Yes, pennants!”
“Well, I don’t know, but he’s at a party right now and wanted me to come get you.” She could practically see the stars in his eyes as he hopped up and down. She stood, holding out her hand. “Come on, we don’t want to be late.”
He grabbed her hand, pulling her down the road. “Come on, come on! It’s rude to be late when you’re invited somewhere!”
She laughed at his eagerness, despite not knowing exactly where he was going. Suddenly, she felt her skin prickle, like she had just been hit with a blast of cold air without the actual temperature change. “Hornton, I mean, Malleus, what-” Before she could say another word, they both were encased by a shimmering yellow-green light, vanishing and reappearing several feet down the road. (Y/N) felt a wave of vertigo at the sudden teleportation, not extremely dissimilar from when she went through the mirror portal for the first time.
After a few more overly excited teleportations, and (Y/N) gently redirecting them back in the right direction a few times, the duo arrived back to the gym. Malleus was hopping up and down in anticipation, but froze when she pushed open the door. His wide eyes darted around to each group playing.
“What’s wrong?” (Y/N) asked, kneeling down to him.
“What if they don’t like me?” He said in a small voice. (Y/N) felt her heart break a little. “What if they’re scared of me?” Okay, now her heart was fully broken.
She turned him so they were face to face, taking his hands in hers. “Malleus, it’s okay to feel nervous. A lot of new things can seem pretty scary at first. I know I was really scared when I first came here. But you know what? The people I met here are my best friends in the entire world. They can be prickly and stubborn and rough around the edges. But they’re also brave and generous and kind, even if they won’t admit it out loud. You’ll never find a better group of people to go through a storm with.”
Malleus squeezed her hands back, setting his face with determination and nodded once.
“There’s my brave prince. Come on, I know just who to introduce you to.”
The bed area that Crewel had so deliberately laid out earlier had been torn up. Blankets and pillows were stacked high in two barriers facing each other across the gym. The tiny pillow fort soldiers raced behind their barricades in oversized t-shirts and sweatpants as improved pajamas.
“Hey, there,” (Y/N) said, stopping Kalim running by with a touch on his shoulder. “Now what kind trouble did you all get into while I was gone?”
“We’re having a pillow fight!” Kalim said, clutching a bright blue seat cushion to his chest.
“It’s a war!” Epel yelled from his side of the barricade.
“Floyd threw a ball at Azul and Idia’s game and Idia’s hair went all ‘whoosh!’ and that woke up Leona so Leona stole the ball and popped it, and then Riddle got mad and tried to do his collar anti-magic magic on him but he missed at hit Vil and that made Rook sad so he tried to pull the collar off but it wouldn’t work, so then Jack tried to pull it off cause Jack’s much more stronger but it wouldn’t work and he let go too fast and he hit Sebek, so now we’re all at war!” Kalim said all in one breath.
“It’s not a war!” Epel yelled, waving two pillows in the air. “It’s a massa- a messacu- a massecure - you’re gonna lose!”
Pillows and balled up blankets started flying like snowballs. As the puffy projectiles flew, one veered off course, smacking right into Malleus’s stary-eyed face.
Everyone froze. The pillow seemed to be stuck to Malleus’s face for a few comical seconds before dropping, revealing his blank expression. A slow, eerie smile stretched across his chubby child face.
“Ah, so this is how other people play, is it?” He said. He started to hover several inches off the ground, discarded pillows rising up around him, surrounded by a holographic green light. (Y/N) could have sworn the lights started to flicker. “Then, let’s continue with the game!”
Levitating pillows flew through the air, zipping around like homing missiles. The children shrieked and laughed as they dove for cover or tried to swat away the projectiles with their own pillow weapons. Ace dove in front of Deuce to block and attack, Deuce dramatically falling to his knees to hold Ace’s overdramatically ‘dead’ body after. Jamil stood in front of Kalim, wielding two pillows like nunchucks to bat away incoming pillows. Kalim just jumped up and down, clapping his hands in joy, not noticing Jamil rolling his eyes. Ruggie was taking advantage of the bedlam to sneak past the teen chaperones, who weren’t doing so much chaperoning as taking bets as they watched. Ruggie pulled down the tray of brownies, snickering as he darted off to enjoy his spoils. Azul was at the top of the tank, head whipping back and forth to follow the attacks. Rook threw a pillow at him, smacking the octopus mer before it got waterlogged and sunk in the tank. Azul’s face started to crumble and he sniffed, holding back budding tears. Floyd and Jade zipped to the side of the tank, rearing up and spitting out two streams of water. Rook cried out at suddenly getting wet, running in circles. Idia had climbed up on Ortho’s shoulders, who was flying above the fluffy carnage.
Leona jumped up, grabbing a pillow midair, sinking his teeth into it and shaking until stuffing started to pop out. He spit it out, holding his own pillow aloft as he pointed at Malleus with all the authority and bravado of a decorated general on the battlefield.
“Charge!” He yelled.
“I’ll protect you, my liege!” Sebek shouted, he and Silver jumping in front of Malleus, one pillow held out like a shield and another above their heads like a squishy square sword.
(Y/N) picked up kitten Grim, scratching under his chin as he purred. She sat crossed legged next to the professors and Lilia. “So, I think it’s going pretty well so far.”
Lilia was staring at Malleus, who cackled in delight at the retaliation. “He…”
(Y/N) nudged him with her elbow. “He looks just like his mom, huh?”
“His-?!” He relaxed, smiling fondly. “Yes, he does.”
After the battle, which would be spoken about in legends for generations to come, finally petered out, (Y/N) started gathering the exhausted children to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Trey darted between sinks, double checking that everyone was flossing as well. Back out in the gym, they all climbed into their makeshift beds, snuggling down and yawing wide.
“Wait!” Deuce called out as (Y/N) stood up.
She knelt back down next to him. “Yeah? What’s up, bud?”
Suddenly bashful, Deuce crumpled his blanket in his hands. “I, um, I need a good night kiss! My mom always gives me a good night kiss and makes sure I’m all tucked in so the monsters can’t get me!”
“Hey!” Ace said, jumping up. “I want a kiss, too! Cause of the monsters, nothing else!”
Soon, all the kids were back wide awake, clamoring for attention and kisses.
“Down, down!” Crewel shouted. He sighed in frustration. “Honestly, you’re all like overexcited puppies.”
(Y/N) laughed as the kids grumbled back to their beds.”Don’t worry, I’ll make sure no monsters get anywhere near you.” She knelt down, kissing the top of Deuce’s head. Deuce blushed, diving under his blankets, pulling them tight over his head. Ace huffed, crossing his arms in the pinnacle of frustration. (Y/N) kissed the top of his head too, and he turned red, hiding his face in his pillow.
(Y/N) made her rounds, saying good night to everyone individually, giving them a kiss on the head or cheek. Some were excited, Cater, Ruggie, Kalim, and Floyd, while others were more bashful, Riddle, Azul, Idia, Epel, and Sebek. When she kissed Rook’s forehead, he jumped up, saying, “Plus! Plus!” She peppered his chubby cheeked face with more kisses as he giggled victoriously. Silver was already asleep, curled up on Lilia’s lap, but sighed happily as she pressed a kiss to his temple.
“What a strange human ritual,” Lilia said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. “I… I suppose I should participate as well, shouldn’t I?”
(Y/N) laughed. “Of course, general,” She pressed a kiss to his cheek. He stiffened and turned his head to hide his blush.
“Leona?” She asked, kneeling next to the lion prince’s bed. “Do you want a good night kiss, too?”
“Hmph,” He said. “I don’t need it. I’m too big for that baby stuff.”
“If he’s giving up his share,” Malleus said, tugging on (Y/N)’s arm. “I’ll gladly take it instead.”
Leona threw himself across (Y/N)’s lap. “No! You can’t give the lizard more than you give me! (Y/N)’s mine!” He tried to roar, which sounded more like an angry wet cat than the king of the jungle.
They each grabbed one of her arms, tugging viciously. “Okay, okay! Don’t worry! You both can get as many good night kisses as you want.”
“Me first!” Malleus said.
“No, me first!” Leona countered.
“Easy, boys, no need to fight.” She took their hands, putting them together palms facing her, then kissed them both. Leona’s ears flicked up and back, tail whipping around, forcing himself to look indifferent despite how much he obviously cared. Malleus just beamed. She kissed each of their foreheads and tucked them back into bed.
Finally, with everyone satisfied with their kisses and tucked in, (Y/N) turned off the lights in the gym, leaving one on in the far corner to act as a night light. She scooped up Grim, cradling him in her arms, and slipped into her own bed.”Good night, everyone.”
There was a sleepy chorus of “Good night,” before silence filled the air, interrupted only by soft snores. Cuddling Grim close, (Y/N) closed her eyes and let all the exhaustion of the day drag her down into sleep.
(Y/N) was woken abruptly the next morning by a pillow being thrown in her face. She let out an “Ouf” as Grim, now full sized again, jumped out from her hold and off her stomach to escape getting hit. She sat up quickly, just in time to catch another pillow being thrown.
“I said get off me!” Jamil said, shoving a confused and bleary eyed Ruggie off from on top of him.
“Why am I soaked?” Azul said, wringing out his shirt as a pool of water formed around his, Jade, and Floyd’s feet, the water tank overturned next to them.
Around the gym, everyone had reverted back to their normal ages, untangling themselves from their flat beds and trying to recollect the events that led them there. The professors had also reverted to their previous size, spilling out of their own beds they had quickly outgrown.
“I guess none of you remember what happened yesterday?” (Y/N) said.
Jack rubbed his temples. “Something about a virus? I think? And…” He trailed off, looking over at Azul and lowering his voice. “Why do I want to call Azul cute?”
“Ack!” Cater yelled in surprise. “Why is my phone all sticky?!”
“Forget your phone!” Grim said. “Why are there ink stains on my beautiful fur?!”
“Oh, don’t worry,” (Y/N) said, standing with a mischievous smile. She pulled out her phone, opening up the photos app. “I took a very detailed record of everything.”
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Summary: Night Raven College has never been lacking in drama and intrigue, especially where the magicless Prefect is concerned. And through all those adventures, she may have just stolen a heart or two... or more?
Or
Various mini-fics where the Twisted Wonderland cast duel it out for the Prefect's affections.
Warnings: AFAB reader, she/her pronouns, fluff, cannon typical shade, I really did not mean for Lilia to catch strays twice in this fic but here we are
Crossposted on my AO3 TheGhostInTheKitchen
Riddle vs Floyd
Riddle knew he was distracted. This wasn’t like him at all. He’d been happy, more than happy, to help (Y/N) when she had asked him to help her study for her upcoming alchemy exam. But now, as they sat across from each other in the library, warm afternoon light casting golden rays through the book stacks, he couldn’t seem to even bother looking at his textbook. Rather, he found himself watching the girl across from him. How she would frown at a particularly confusing equation, tracing a sentence with her finger as she copied it into her notes, tapping her pencil against her lips as she silently read. Oh, Seven, he was staring at her lips too much.
Riddle had to stop himself from flinching as (Y/N)’s eyes glanced up to him. He could already feel his face heating up as she smiled at him. Her eyes cut to behind him quickly before coming back to him.
“Incoming, twelve O’clock,” She said.
“Sorry?” Riddle asked, trying not to sound as flustered as he felt. Before he could even try to clear his head of the embarrassing pink hearts and sparkles that seemed to be clouding his vision whenever he looked at (Y/N), the back of Riddle’s chair was yanked back on the rear legs. He pinwheeled his arms, legs kicking out on instinct, as he grabbed anything to try and regain balance.
“How are my two favorite guppies doing?” Floyd asked, looking at Riddle upside down with a sharp grin stretched across his impish face.
Riddle started turning red for an entirely different reason than before. “Floyd!” He snapped. He threw himself forward, causing the chair to slam back down on all four legs, hands slapping down on the study table.
“Yes, Goldfish?” Floyd said.
Riddle was completely ready to tear into Floyd for his chaos, a pretty standard routine for both of them by this point. But then he remembered who he was in the room with. His reprimand stuck in his throat. Taking a deep breath, he straightened his chair, back straight, lifting up his book. “As you can clearly see, I’m helping (Y/N) study. We don’t have time to entertain you.”
Floyd started shaking Riddle’s chair. “Boo. What do you need to study for anyway? This is easy stuff.”
Riddle was about to snap again when (Y/N) saved him by saying,“Don’t be mean, Floyd. It’s for me, not him. We can’t all be master mages like you two.” She chastised without any real power behind it, more like a line from a script she knew by heart to try and placate his naturally volatile personality.
Floyd pouted, collapsing into a chair next to her and propping his chin on her shoulder. “I’m never mean to Shrimpy.”
She made a half-hearted “MmmHmm,” sound and ruffled his hair while going back to her notes.
Riddle felt his teeth grind together as Floyd looked at him sideways, smiling slyly.
“Hear that, Goldfish? Shrimpy called me a master mage.”
“I believe she directed that to the both of us. Although perhaps she’s being too kind to some parties.”
(Y/N) lightly kicked Riddle’s foot under the table. “You don’t be mean, too, Riddle.”
“I - I’m not - I would never -!”
She laughed. “Don’t worry about it, I’m just teasing you. But hey, could you help explain this part to me?” She flipped her book around, tapping a section.
Riddle gave a silent sigh of relief as he focused back on the book. But before he could properly read the section (Y/N) indicated, Floyd snatched it out of her hands, holding it high above his head.
“Oh, I know this stuff!” He exclaimed. “I remember reading about this when we first got on land. There’s a way better book to go over it. Uhh, what was it called again?” He pretended to struggle for a moment before calling out the title, author, and exactly what section of the library it could be found in.
“That’s perfect, thanks, Floyd!” He beamed. “Wait here, I’ll go grab it.” As she went around them, she briefly touched Riddle’s shoulder. A silent thank you for his help? An unspoken token of affection? A warning not to let Floyd get on his very last frayed nerve? Who could say. But the ghost of her hand tingled as he watched her disappear into the stacks.
He turned back to the study table, only to be met with Floyd’s wide eyes staring directly into his, the merman’s face less than an inch from his own. Riddle let out a rather undignified yelp as he reflectively threw himself back, his chair almost toppling over for the second time that day.
“You’re all red, Goldfishie,” Floyd said. “Not like the kind of red when you’re playing with me or yelling at those guppies in your dorm. It’s different.”
Riddle brought a hand up to his cheek, feeling the heat radiating from his blush. He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, it is rather warm in here.”
“No,” Floyd said, drawing out the O. “I don’t think that’s it. I think you’re all red because of (Y/N).”
It took Riddle a moment to connect that Floyd had used (Y/N)’s real name instead of his nickname for her. He blinked a few times, saying, “So you can be civil and use someone’s proper name, then.”
Floyd shrugged. “(Y/N) is (Y/N), like how Jade is Jade and Azul is Azul. It’s different from Goldfishie. But you get it, right? You feel the same way about her, too.” Riddle stared at him, mouth moving but no sound coming out as he tried to process Floyd’s accusation. Although, could you really call it an accusation if it was true? In response, Floyd just laughed, leaning back and clapping his hands together. “I was right, right? I knew it! You’ve got a crush on (Y/N)~.” He sang the last part teasingly. He sighed, crossing his arms on the study table and laying his head down on them. “Too bad, though, cause I like her too.”
Finding his voice again, Riddle narrowed his eyes. “And what gives you the impression she feels the same about you?”
“Why do you think she feels the same about you?” Floyd threw back nonchalantly. “She’s real pretty, and nice, and brave, and smart, and doesn't swim away like the other guppies around me. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. What’s that land term? She makes me have beetles in my stomach, or something.” He sighed happily. “It’s like how Pop talks about Mama.” Breaking out of his romantic stupor, he snapped back to Riddle. “How about a game, Goldfish? We don’t tell (Y/N). It wouldn’t be fair to try and influence her decision by making her feel guilty and confess too early. You got to work for what you want, right? We’ll let her decide. The deadline can be a week before summer break. How about it?” He held out his hand to Riddle, looking at him expectantly.
Riddle felt like he was staring down the devil at the crossroads. He felt insulted by the insinuation that he treated (Y/N)’s feelings as a game. But then, maybe that was just Floyd’s unique vocabulary. Although this situation felt less like a game and more like a declaration of war.
And if that’s how it was going to be, fine. He was Riddle Rosehearts, after all. Heartslabyul House Warden during his first year, top of his class, master mage with a unique spell that could send Floyd on his backside in three seconds flat.
If this was war, then so be it.
He clasped Floyd’s hand tightly, glaring at him as the taller boy grinned in victory.
“Aww, look at you guys getting along.” They jumped apart as (Y/N) reappeared behind them, holding the alchemy book.
Floyd hooked an arm around Riddle’s neck, bringing him in close. “Oh, yeah, Goldfish and I were just talking about a cool new game! I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. There’s a really great prize at the end. But it’s a secret.”
“Well, good luck. If it’s between the two of you I’m sure it’s going to be a battle for the ages.”
She had no idea.
Let the games begin.
Malleus vs Leona
“Leona,” (Y/N) said. She tapped his back a few times. “Leona, I have to get up.”
“Mmph,” He grunted, tail flicking at her hand like it was a bothersome fly.
“Leona, my leg’s asleep.”
“So am I.”
“You just talked to me.”
“I’m sleep talking.”
She laughed and Leona smiled. He could listen to that sound all day.
They were in the conservatory, stashed away in one of the many groves of trees, one of Leona’s favorite places to hide away and nap. What had started as (Y/N) bringing him lunch in an effort to give a sick Ruggie a break had ended with Leona pulling her down and using her lap as a pillow.
“Seriously, though,” She said. “I’m already late. I was supposed to meet up with-”
She was abruptly cut off as she was unexpectedly pulled out from under him, his head smacking to the ground. Grumeling, Leona looked up, only for his annoyance to increase ten fold.
Malleus stood over him, blocking out the sun, holding a surprised looking (Y/N) behind her back and under her knees, like some noble prince and princess in one of those old sappy stories his mother used to tell him.
“Kingscholar,” Malleus said dryly.
“Lizard,” Leona responded in kind.
“Hi, Hornton,” (Y/N) said, either ignoring or trying to dissolve the tension rapidly building between them. “Sorry, were you waiting for me long? I guess I lost track of time hanging out with Leona.”
“Yeah,” Leona said, pushing himself to stand. “We were having a grand old time before you interrupted.”
Malleus narrowed his eyes. “I’m sure. However, the child of man and I have an appointment this afternoon. If you’ll excuse us.” Still holding (Y/N), he spun around and began marching out of the conservatory.
With a growl, Leona pushed himself up and stalked behind them.
“What’s the rush?” He said. “Afraid (Y/N) has better things to do than stare at some old stone statues all day?”
(Y/N) put up her hands. “Oh, no, I-”
“(Y/N) had wanted to learn some of the modern fae language,” Malleus said. “After the events of the fairy gala, and considering the pixie population here at school. And who better than I to tutor her?”
Bell-like chimes immediately emanate from Leona’s mouth, causing Malleus and (Y/N) to both freeze. Leona smirked at Malleus, who had been able to clearly understand what the beastman said while (Y/N) simply looked on in admiration.
“I know six languages,” Leona said, casually flipping his mane back.
Malleus smirked. “I speak nine.”
“I know a couple phrases in French!” (Y/N) said. “So I can tell what Rook is saying, like, a quarter of the time? That’s really impressive, though!”
“Thank you,” “Of course,” Malleus and Leona both said at the same time.
As the two continued their stare-down, (Y/N) wriggled down from Malleus’s hold. “So, yeah, the fairy gala! You really missed out, Hornton. I know there was a reason you couldn’t come with us, but it was beautiful! And the guys looked great on the runway! Leave it to Professor Crewel to pull off a whole capsule collection in less than a day.”
Leona smirked. “You thought I looked cool, huh? Well, maybe it wasn’t an entire waste of time, then.” He frowned and added under his breath, “But I swear I can still hear Vil nagging me in my sleep.”
“Perhaps, then,” Malleus said, taking her elbow and pulling her closer. “You should allow me to escort you to a ball in the Briar Valley. There is an upcoming masquerade celebration for a meteor shower. We dance through the night, there are strolling performers, the royal chefs prepare the most amazing feast. I’m sure you would look beautiful in Briar Valley attire.”
Leona took her other arm, pulling her back to him. “Festivals in the Sunset Savannah are way more exciting than whatever stuffy charade they get up to. You liked visiting Sunrise City last time for the Bead Brawl, right? We can stop by the hot springs again, just the two of us.”
“Really, Kingscholar, do you have no sense of decorum?” Malleus pulled her to him again.
Leona tightened his grip as he tugged her back. “You’re the one who interrupted in the first place.”
“Um, guys?” (Y/N) asked. The two princes continued as if they hadn’t heard her at all. (Y/N) sighed. “I wonder if Riddle has a foreign language study guide?” She said to herself.
Both of them snapped to her, exclaiming at the same time, “No!”
Ace vs Jamil
Floyd was suspicious. Crabby and Sea Snake had been acting weird during basketball practice. They started out fine, Sea Snake being snippy and rolling his eyes at everything, Crabby talking a big game and only half way delivering.
But things had changed about half way through when Shrimpy had come into the gym. She has tried to sneak in, slipping into the bleachers with a book. But Crabby had laser-focused his attention on her almost immediately, missing a cue from another player and getting slammed in the face with the basketball. Floyd cackled and he caught Sea Snake trying to hide his smirk behind his hand. But the Scarabia boy quickly frowned when Shrimpy came rushing over to Crabby, fusing over him like a, what was the land term for it? A mother duck, or something like that.
“I’m seeing spots,” Ace lamented. “I think my nose might be broken.” He held Shrimpy’s hand as she fussed over him.
“Do you want to sit down?” (Y/N) asked. “I can get some ice for you.”
“Oh, he’s fine,” Jamil said, tucking the basketball under his arm. “Not like he has many brain cells left to damage anyway.”
“Hey!”
“Maybe if you stayed on your toes more like me you won’t have this problem.” He took Shrimpy’s other hand, turning her focus to him. “Honestly, (Y/N), I don’t know how you put up with it. You can always come to me if-”
“She can come to her best friend if she needs anything, thank you very much.”
“Yes, her friend. Thank you for pointing that out.”
Coach Lobster blew his whistle, calling everyone back into formation. Sea Snake and Crabby took their places across from each other, glaring. Floyd started bouncing on his toes in anticipation at the change of energy. Lobster tossed the ball up to start play, and Sea Snake jumped, smacking it away from Crabby’s hands. The two weaved and dodged around each other, almost completely ignoring the other players. Floyd found the whole thing hilarious, thinking the two were like fighting beta fish, competing to impress their potential mate.
Finally, Crabby was able to get control of the ball, ducking and spinning under Sea Snake’s outstretched arms. In just a few short dribbles, he made it to the three-point line. Smirking, he looked over his shoulder at Shrimpy still watching from the bleachers.
“This one’s for you, (Y/N)!” He called confidently. He lined up the shot, hopped as he threw the ball, and watched dejectedly as it fell a foot short of the basket.
Sea Snake swooped in, easily catching the bouncing ball, side eyeing Crabby with a confident tilt of his head. “I’ll show you how it’s done, (Y/N).” He set up for his own shot, flinching at the last second as Crabby tried to knock the ball from his hands. The ball hit the rim, clanging and falling out of bounds.
Sea Snake glowered. “I had that shot, Ace.”
Crabby shrugged, pretending to be non-chalant while also returning Sea Snake’s dirty look. “Just trying to keep you on your toes, Jamil. We got to practice to be ready for anything, right?” Crabby said, throwing his words back at him.
They both turned from anger to embarrassment as Shrimpy called out, “Don’t worry, guys! You’ll get it next time!”
Floyd snatched the ball out of the hands of one of his teammates. “Hey, Shrimpy!” Floyd called out. “This one’s for you!” He easily made the shot from the half-court line. Shrimpy whistled and clapped. Floyd grinned wider as the two bessotted boys glared daggers at him.
At least this would make the rest of practice more interesting.
Deuce vs Azul
“Look out!” Deuce jumped back just in time to miss (Y/N) as she sped past on roller skates. She wobbled to regain balance, two trays held high with precariously perched drinks threatening to fall. Deuce lurched forward, pressing underneath the trays to help settle them, ignoring the heat in his palms as they pressed against the back of (Y/N)’s hands.
Regaining composure, (Y/N) sighed, smiling at him. “Thanks! Still not used to carrying stuff while skating. It’s making it a lot faster to meet orders, though!” She gave him a wink that did something funny to his heart before twirling away, threading through the tables of the Monstro Lounge.
It wasn’t uncommon for (Y/N) to pick up shifts for the Octavinelle side business. With her available funds always in a perilous position, depending if Crowley decided to remember her existence that week, it never hurt to find employment from a more reliable supervisor.
Or, as Deuce thought glumly, as reliable as you could call Azul. Deuce still didn’t trust the landlocked merman as far as he could throw him, or anyone else in this dorm. There was pretty much only one reason he’d come here, and that was to check up on (Y/N). Especially since she’d gotten that new uniform specifically when she worked at the Monstro Lounge. The skirt fluttered and swayed with each glide on her skates, the puffy cap sleeves giving the whole thing a maid-like appearance, the soft lavender of the vest complimenting her complexion perfectly.
And it wasn’t like (Y/N) needed anyone to check up on her! Sure she got into trouble sometimes, they all did, but Deuce knew well enough that she was perfectly able to take care of herself. Still, he pushed back against the protective instinct to jump up and punch the next guy who happened to look at (Y/N) in a way he didn’t like.
Deep breathes, Deuce, He thought to himself. Keep your composure.
“Well, welcome to the Monstro Lounge!” A familiar voice chimed. “It’s so rare to see you back here after all that unpleasantness earlier in the year.”
Deuce felt his back molars grind together as he looked at Azul. The other boy smiled in a way that Deuce was sure was meant to be welcoming, but he couldn't help but read it as slimy. Azul threw his arm around Deuce’s shoulders.
“You mean when you tricked me and a bunch of other people into becoming unpaid labor? Or after, when you stole a bunch of people’s magic and almost killed us?” Deuce said.
Azul waved the comment away. “Semantics. Anyway, that’s all in the past now, right?”
Deuce plucked Azul’s hand off. “Sure. Semantics. Look, I’m just here to walk (Y/N) back to her dorm after her shift.”
“Oh, of course, of course. You know, it’s been great having her here. Seeing her every day, for hours on end, in such close quarters. We’ve become quite close, I’m happy to say.” There was a gleam in his eye as he purposefully goaded the underclassman.
“Oh, yeah,” Deuce said. “We sit together in class every day. And study together all the time. And hang out at Ramshackle. I’d even say we’re best friends. And you’re just her part-time boss, right?”
Azul wasn't a fool, and he wasn’t nearly as oblivious as he considered Deuce. While it might have taken a hot second for him to acknowledge his own feelings for (Y/N), and maybe a night of agonizing self denial as he tried to fight off the warm-fuzzies that came whenever he merely thought about the girl, he’d come to the conclusion that by the end of the year, he’d have (Y/N) return his affections, no contract required. Of course, that meant taking out the competition. And, as much as he would loath to admit it, (Y/N) was extremely close to her fellow first years, the spade card soldier unfortunately included.
While it might have taken Deuce a little longer to exactly name the emotions that stirred in his chest the longer he knew (Y/N), he wasn’t as clueless as Azul thought he was. If you’d asked him before, back when he was a delinquent, he probably would have brushed off any mention of a crush or the blush of first love as nothing but chick-flick claptrap. But now, actually experiencing it for himself, he more than understood why romance novels were so popular.
They both watched as (Y/N) zipped by. She caught them looking and waved a hand in greeting. Both boys smiled and waved back, imagining her smile was only ever meant for them.
“You know,” Azul said. “I think Octavinelle purple looks good on her. Much better than, say, Heartslabyul red.”
Deuce could swear he felt a vein pop. “I think you’d look better in-”
“Hi, guys!” (Y/N) said, interrupting at just the perfect moment. The tension eased out of Deuce’s shoulders like butter on a hot pan. “Got you guys something. On me!”
In front of Deuce, she slid a tall glass of fizzing blueberry soda, swimming with bursting boba pearls and topped with condensed milk slowly diffusing into the drink. “I had them mix it with a shot of protein powder. You’re getting ready for that track meet, right? You’re going to be awesome.”
For Azul, she set a delicate bone china tea cup, decorated with purple peonies against a light blue background. The aroma of green tea, swirled with a light pink strawberry syrup floated up between them. Tiny crushed freeze dried strawberries bobbed in the steaming tea. “Got to take it easy, boss. This should help your throat feel better. You said it was feeling sore this morning, right?”
Azul smiled gratefully and took the tea cup. “Thank you, (Y/N). What would we do without you?”
(Y/N) shrugged. “Anything for my two favorite guys. Got another order here. See you!”
Deuce and Azul smiled and waved, only long enough for (Y/N) to be properly out of eye sight. They sipped their drinks as menacingly as possible, glaring at each other in an unspoken challenge.
On the other side of the Monstro Lounge, Jade was setting up a betting pool.
Idia vs Vil
It was inevitable at some point, Idia knew, that he’d have to leave his dorm room eventually. That didn’t make his trek across the snow laden campus any better, though. Normally, when he had a special order come in, Ortho would be able to grab it from the mail room for him. But this time it had been delivered to the school store by mistake, and his little brother was deep asleep in his charging chamber with an in-depth diagnostic program running. Of course, Idia could have waited for Ortho to wake up, but every second he went without the new exclusive Premo memrobelia while knowing it was so close already was torture. So, he chose a different kind of torture, slinging on his heavy coat and ventruing out to retrieve the package himself.
It was still snowing lightly as he stepped into Sam’s Mystery Shop, the flakes evaporating inches from his hair. He started to stomp the snow from his boots, but thought better of it quickly, not wanting to drag attention to himself with the noise. There was some sort of satisfying revenge in the thought of tracking melted snow through the store for forcing him to come out here, even if it wasn’t their fault his mail had been misplaced.
He tapped his fingers rapidly at the checkout counter as Sam slipped into the back store room to find his package. Just as he was finally starting to calm down from the overwhelming irritation of being perceived, his heart jumpstarted back to a thunderous beat when he heard a familiar voice call out, “Idia!”
Swallowing hard, he turned around, seeing (Y/N) waving at him from a display of winter clothes. He waved back, expecting her to turn back to what she was doing, but his mouth went dry and his heart dropped into his stomach as she came over to him. His thoughts rushed as he tried to remember if he’d showered that morning, if he’d used mouthwash, was he wearing his good coat, should he smile now or would that look creepy with his sharp teeth, was he -
His mind went from overload to bluescreen as (Y/N) pulled out a deep blue and lavender striped scarf from the box she was carrying and wrapped it around his neck. “Here, this one’s on me. Sam’s letting me sell some stuff I knitted to get some extra cash. You’re dripping snow everywhere, you know? Are you cold?” Idia regretted his ‘revenge’ now.
“A-ah, no, I’m fine,” He stuttered out. He tried to quickly recall every dating sim he’d ever played in a desperate attempt to figure out how to talk to a pretty girl IRL.
“There’s not much point in setting up a stand to sell if you keep giving things away,” Another voice chimed in from behind them. Vil stepped up, hands on his hips with that familiar calculating and slightly disapproving look, although his eyes softened and he smiled that perfect, practiced, magazine-ready soft smile as (Y/N) looked back up at him. Idia couldn’t help but notice Vil had a similar scarf and a pair of mittens personalized with a VS clasped in one hand.
Was that the kind of guy she liked? High maintenance, pompous, proud, tall? He was tall. When he stood up straight, anyway, which he didn’t like to do since it brought even more attention to him than his bright blue fiery hair did. Ugh, this was exactly why he preferred to talk through a screen. Although, even Idia had to admit there was something special about being able to stand directly next to (Y/N).
Vil, likewise, couldn’t help but wonder if Idia represented the kind of personality (Y/N) found attractive as he observed the other boy tug at the scarf she has so fondly wrapped around his neck. A silent genius, yes, but also a shut-in, a rambler, barely enough confidence to fill a tea cup until some invisible switch flipped and suddenly he would go on and on about how amazing he was. Honestly, the only real competition Vil saw in Idia were his amazing cheekbones.
“Vil’s helping me set everything up,” (Y/N) said, unaware of the silent sizing-up the two others were doing. “It’s great to have someone who knows what they’re doing.”
Vil tossed his hair like he was in a shampoo commercial. Idia rolled his eyes. “Well, I only promote products I believe in.”
“Still, it was nice of you to post about it on MagiCam. I never thought my hobby would get 5,000 reposts in ten minutes.”
“It was the least I could do,” Vil said, not-so-subtly flaunting the monogrammed mittens. “Your skills continue to astound me. Perhaps you should come to Pomfiore this evening for dinner and I can-”
“I’ll take it all!” Idia blurted out. He slapped down a heavy black metal credit card on the cashier table. Sam seemed to materialize right out of the shadows, smiling brightly and swiping the card before anyone could get another word in.
“Whoa, Idia!” (Y/N) said. “That’s way too much!”
“Naw, don’t worry about it,” He said, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. “Ignihyde gets super cold anyway since we need strong AC to keep the computers cool. So you’re doing me a favor.” He pulled the scarf up to cover the bottom half of his face, hoping it would hide the blush quickly forming on his pale face, to say nothing of how the edges of his hair were sparking pink. “Plus, it’s like a SSR rank pull since you made it.”
“(Y/N), spudling,” Vil said, putting a hand on (Y/N)’s shoulder to gently direct her attention back to him. “Since you’re out of stock, I’d love to put in a few more orders for personalized items. I have several contacts back in Maquillaville who would be thrilled to receive something so high quality. And, if you’d like to come with me during winter break, I’m sure having an in person model with the designer herself would do numbers. I’m sure Sam here could put in an order for more yarn. Alpaca, cashmere, velvet chenille, and the like. No, don’t worry about the cost, I’m more than happy to pay for it. It's important to support small businesses, after all. Wouldn’t you agree, Idia?”
"Doesn't the Shaftlands get, like, six feet of snow during even a mild winter? The Isle of Heroes is way nicer to spend winter break. You-You know, if you wanted to come over to my place during break instead.”
“Oh, yes,” Vil said sarcastically. “I’m sure (Y/N) would love to spend her free time miles under water in a sterile facility where we nearly escaped with our lives. That sounds like a dream.”
“Um, actually,” (Y/N) said, feeling like she was interrupting something. “Kalim already invited me and Grim to his place. Trying to make up for last winter break, I think. But thank you for thinking of me!”
As Sam bagged up Idia’s new knitwear and discussed with (Y/N) about how much yarn she needed, added to Vil’s tab, of course, the two third years exchanged looks. Maybe they could call a temporary truce for the time being in light of a common enemy.
Sebek vs Jade
“I think I caught something!” (Y/N) cheered. She yanked back on her fishing pole, heels digging into the soft sand of the bank of the river.
She and Sebek stood in the dappled light in the forest around NRC campus. They had taken the easy trek out to a clear river that ran across Sage’s Island, just in time to catch the salmon migration as they went from freshwater to salt. Sebek had asked her to accompany him that morning, with an attempt at nonchalance while also blushing furiously and not being able to meet her eyes. Grim had declared that, even if it wasn’t tuna, fresh fish was still fresh fish and eagerly pushed his hench-human out with the knight. Although she had laughed afterward and said that she would have loved to accompany him, even if she didn’t have an extra mouth to feed.
Sebek looked casually over at her exuberant flailing, his own posture as straight as his own fishing pole. “You’ve caught a rock.”
“What? No, I-” With a yelp, (Y/N) suddenly fell back as her fishing hook dislodged from the riverbed rocks it had been snagged on. Sebek dropped his pole and lunged with his arms out to catch her, only to be beaten to the punch by a figure that stepped out of the trees.
“Careful now,” Jade said, (Y/N) cradled rather fondly in his arms. “This isn’t exactly the way I pictured you falling for me, but I suppose it will do.”
(Y/N) felt heat rise to her face immediately. Before she could formulate a response, her mouth opening and closing uselessly, Sebek grabbed her hands and jerked her back upright.
“Thank you,” Sebek said, not sounding at all grateful. “Now if you’ll excuse us.”
“Oh, not at all,” Jade said. Purposefully ignoring Sebek, he stepped behind (Y/N), looking over her shoulder at their collected equipment. “I didn’t expect to run into anyone during my hike today. It’s quite a lovely surprise. What brings you out, (Y/N)?”
“It’s the salmon run,” (Y/N) said, picking her pole back up and trying to fix the line. “I’ve never been fishing before, but Sebek’s helping a lot.”
“I see,” Jade said, glancing sideways at Sebek. “My, Sebek, I wouldn’t have taken you for one to lure our dear Prefect out alone in the middle of the woods. And not a chaperone in sight! What would your prince say?”
Sebek spluttered at the accusation. “How dare you! As a knight of Briar Valley, (Y/N) is more than safe with me! Much more so than with someone already proven to be a swindler and confidence man!”
“Oh, how you wound me, Sebek.”
“Wait, I’ve really got one this time!” (Y/N) interrupted. A brightly colored red salmon jumped out of the water, the end of (Y/N)’s finishing line caught in its mouth.
“Start reeling it in!” Sebek commanded. “Keep your rod up and pull it towards you.”
“You want to give it side pressure,” Jade said. “Move your rod to the other side of how its swimming.”
“That will just make the line slack! You’re going to lose it!”
“Keeping the rod that straight will snap it.”
“I’ve been fishing since I was a child training with Master Lilia, I know what I’m doing!”
“Ah, that would explain the outdated methods, then.”
Amidst their arguing, neither of them noticed (Y/N) take a step forward to try and steady herself against the surprisingly strong fish. Her foot landed just the wrong way on an algy-covered stone, her leg buckling under her, sending her cascading into the river and the fish zipping away to freedom.
(Y/N) spluttered, wiping a hand down her face to get rid of the dripping water. She supposed she was lucky enough to have fallen into a shallow portion of the river, even if she was still soaked through. She pushed against the slippery rocks, turning herself around only to slip again, landing on her back.
Huffing in finality, she laughed at herself. “Can I get a little help here?”
“Honestly, human,” Sebek said, voice crossed with frustration and affection. “What would you do without me?”
“My, so presumptuous,” Jade said. “Here, (Y/N), let me help you, free of charge.”
(Y/N) looked up. The sun created halos around their forms, both extending a hand down to her. She gulped, hand hesitating in the air. Finally, she took both their hands in each of hers, hauling herself up out of the water. She tried not to notice their disappointed expressions as she wrung out her shirt. “Thanks, guys! Maybe I’m not built for the great outdoors.”
“Nonsenes!” Sebek said. “You’re progressing quite well for a human.”
(Y/N) winked at him. “Oh, just for a human?”
Sebek blushed, clearing his throat and turning away. “Y-Yes, well, all things considered, I suppose you have become quite… formidable, given recent events around school. Even with your unfortunate disposition, I can see why Prince Malleus has grown fond of you.”
“Just Hornton, huh?”
“I told you to stop calling him that-!”
Jade dropped to his knees, one hand coming up to hold (Y/N)’s knee and the other cradling the back of her thigh, just underneath the hem of her shorts. She let out a tiny gasp of surprise and Jade had to bite his lip to keep himself from smiling too obviously.
Sebek, however, had no compunctions about hiding his emotion. Fangs bared, he marched over, ready to snatch Jade by his collar and throw him into the river, or, more preferably, all the way back to campus. “What do you think you’re doing?! Such crude behavior is completely inappropriate in front of a lady!”
“Just a moment,” Jade said, unbothered. He ran his hand up the back of (Y/N)’s leg, taking note of the goosebumps that followed. With a deft twist of his wrist, he dislodged a black, blobby leech from her skin, holding the wiggling thing up for them to see. “Please excuse me, (Y/N). I thought it best to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.” He flicked the leech back into the river.
“A leech,” Sebek muttered. “How appropriate.”
Jade grinned. “A distant cousin, perhaps?”
“I was referring more to the blood sucking.”
“Hey!” (Y/N) said, trying to lighten the mood. “I might not have caught anything, but you got a couple of big ones, Sebek! How about we light up a campfire and start cooking these?”
Sebek puffed up his chest in pride. “Of course! For a trained knight to the Draconia throne, this sort of thing is nothing!” He dropped to a pre-cleared area and started arranging various logs, sticks, and other kindling they had collected earlier into a short pyramid shape.
“Ah,” Jade said. “So you’re choosing to make that type of fire.”
“And? This is a perfectly standard way to cook in the wilderness!"
“I’m sure. But, as the founding member of the mountain lover’s club, I’ve been out in nature my fair share as well. I think you’ll agree this configuration is much more efficient.”
(Y/N) sighed inwardly. It was going to be a long day.
Ruggie vs Kalim
Kalim wasn’t used to this feeling. He wasn’t used to wanting anything, at least not something he couldn’t easily have. He wasn’t used to craving what someone else had. He’d always been the kind of kid to share his toys, give freely to whoever asked, with no thought of repayment.Yet anything he could ever want or dream of was always at his fingertips. The entire concept of envy was inexplicable to him.
But now, standing in the small garden tucked behind Ramshackle dorm, watching (Y/N) and Ruggie laugh together as they pulled weeds, there was a strange twist deep in his gut. Was this what jealousy was?
Trying his best to push the gnawing feeling away, he plastered on a bright smile, waving his arm above his head as he walked over to the two. He purposefully ignored the way Ruggie’s eyes narrowed and ears went back, instead focusing on (Y/N) looking up at him with the sweetest smile he had ever seen and a glitter in her eyes that made his heart flip. He was enraptured by the sound of her voice as she detailed all the work that had gone into the little backyard garden and how proud she was of its crop. She couldn’t have done it all without Ruggie’s help, she said, bringing back that twitching, strange feeling in Kalim’s chest.
Was it so bad that he wanted her to rely on him like that? To have her first instinct be to come to him for any problem, no matter how small? To speak about him as if he was the air she breathed, like he spoke about her?
He swooped down and lifted up a basket of zucchini, taking her hand to pull her up with him. He talked about throwing a party in her honor. She was amazing, didn’t she know that, for working so hard to make something so amazing? He felt like he was flying on a magic carpet as she laughed and thwacked his chest with the back of her hand.
Kalim wasn’t used to the feeling of want. But he was more than ready to do whatever it took so that ‘want’ would become ‘have.’
Ruggie was used to this feeling. This feeling of wanting, of coveting, of hunger. He was also used to the feeling of perseverance. Of fighting for what he wanted. Of digging his teeth in and not letting go. He knew the weight of his own determination, the ache of hard work, the bloom of succeeding after long hard exertion.
What was new to him was that hollow feeling being filled by nothing more than a few kind words and a sincere smile from a certain magicless girl. A girl who had stumbled into his life out of nowhere, turning everything upside down and chaotic but quickly becoming someone he couldn’t picture the rest of his life without.
He watched Kalim hoist a basket of zucchinis over his head, smiling brightly as a few leftover yellow flowers fell from the vines. Ruggie sunk his teeth into a tomato, relishing the way the juices dripped down his chin, but his eyes never wavering from the other boy.
Was he worried? No, not really. Sure, there was some apprehension watching how Kalim’s hand touched (Y/N)’s back as she leaned down to look at something he was showing her. But he wasn’t worried, not really.
Ruggie had known plenty of boys like Kalim, whether from interacting with them at NRC or his grueling days back home in the slums of the Sunset Savanna. Boys like that were easy to figure out, all overstuffed with their own confidence that came with being born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They were used to things being easy.
Ruggie jumped up, easily sliding himself between Kalim and (Y/N), pretending he had interrupted to show her a caterpillar slowly gnawing on a large leaf. He relished the way she gasped in delight and gently stroked the caterpillar’s back. Every smile, every sincere compliment, every laugh she gave him, the warmth of their hands brushing as they had worked in the garden, felt like refreshing rain rushing through a dry riverbed.
Ruggie’s eyes cut up every so briefly to Kalim’s face, catching his small frown at the interruption. He had to bite his lip to keep from grinning.
Ruggie had always been a fighter, and he wasn’t about to give up on his love so easily.
Bonus: Malleus vs Ace
It took Ace a minute to realize his eyes were open. It wasn’t until moonlight started to peak behind the clouds and pour in through the large windows of the Ramshackle living room that he realized what had woken him up. Rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he pushed himself up off the couch he was splayed over. He wasn’t sure when he had fallen asleep. He’d originally come over after getting hit with his House Warden’s signature spell again and wanted a quiet place to stew. But his bad mood had quickly devolved into a night of eating way too many snacks, jokes, and video games with his favorite Prefect.
The floorboards creaked as he heard movement from above, padding down the stairs, and passing by the living room to the front entrance. He saw (Y/N)’s familiar silhouette pass by the door.
“He-Hey!” Ace called out, voice still a little groggy from sleep. Tripping over himself, he rushed to the entrance hall. Why would (Y/N) be up so late? Was she running from something upstairs? Did something weird happen with the ghosts? Was she okay? Was there something-
Ace froze as he whirled around the corner, staring at the front door. The tall, dark, looming figure of none other than Malleus Draconia blinked back at him in surprise as (Y/N) hopped on one leg to pull her shoes on.
“Oh, Ace!” She said. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”
“Uh,” Ace said, now all too aware of the dried drool on his chin. “What’s up?”
“Hornton and I were going on a walk,” She said, like it was the most casual thing in the world.
“In the middle of the night?”
“It has become routine,” Mallues said. “There’s something beautiful about exploring the grounds at night. It’s much more… intimate.” He seemed to smirk at the way Ace’s eyes narrowed at him as he said that. “Althought I didn’t expect you to have company.”
“Oh, yeah,” (Y/N) said, pulling on her coat. “The guys crash here all the time. At least it gives me an excuse to clean up some of the other rooms here. Ready to go?”
“I’ll come!” Ace quickly interjected. He tried to downplay his insistence by saying, “I mean, I’m awake already, so might as well, right?”
“Oh, yeah, sure! Is that okay with you, Hornton?”
Malleus pressed his lips into a thin line, looking down at the red head who stared back up. In any other circumstance, Malleus might have felt impressed at the younger boy’s insistence at not backing down. He smiled softly, taking (Y/N)’s hand and patting the back of it, taking pleasure in the way Ace stiffened. “Of course, my dear child of man. Whatever would please you.”
“Great!” She said, squeezing his hand once. She stepped around him, opening the door for the two boys. “Don’t forget your coat, Ace.”
As (Y/N) admired the fireflies that gathered on the Ramshackle lawn, Malleus and Ace stopped on the front steps. There was a moment when they both admired her, a carefree moment in a normally tumultuous environment. And then they remembered they were standing together, and not alone with the object of their affection, and the mood quickly soured.
“I wasn’t aware you frequented Ramshackle Dorm,” Malleus said.
“Oh, yeah,” Ace said, casually. “I’m here, like, all the time. (Y/N) and I are practically besties, you know? Like that.” He held up his pointer and middle finger crossed together.
Malleus narrowed his eyes at his underclassman. “I see. Then, of course, you know all about the ball we had at Noble Bell College during the student social last year, yes? Why, I remember catching her in my arms as we fell through the floor when the fire lotuses bloomed. And then we danced the night away, hand in hand.”
Ace tripped going down the front steps. He hadn’t known that particular saccharine detail, but there was no way he was about to admit that.
“Y-yeah, well, then, she probably told you all about when we were in Playful Land, right? We went down a rollercoaster and she totally grabbed on to me real tight. I mean, it was great and everything, for a while, anyway. Bet I looked super cool swooping in to save the day at the end.”
“Intersting. Lilia told me you were quickly trounced by the fox’s unique magic and only managed to be spared by sheer coincidence and good luck.”
Ace grimaced. “Yeah, well, he was stuck in a cage turning into a puppet the whole time, and he’s like a million years old, so maybe he doesn't remember right.”
Malleus narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps you don’t remember who you’re speaking to.”
Ace could already tell that whatever he was going to say next would be a bad idea, but by the Seven, he was going to say it anyway. He was saved by (Y/N) coming back up the steps. She stood between them, hooking her arms through each of theirs.
“Come on!” She said. “The night’s not getting any younger. I’m glad you're both here. There’s nothing better than hanging out with my two favorite guys. Don’t tell Grim I said that.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” Malleus said with a soft smile.
Ace casually bumped her with his shoulder. “But I’m your most favorite guy, right?” (Y/N) laughed and shoved him back.
“Hey, so,” She began, tone more serious and quiet now as the trio meandered through the silent streets of Night Raven College. “I mean it, really. I don’t know how I would have survived this long if it hadn’t been for you guys. Not just the Overblots, I mean. But, like, everything. Things have been pretty hard from the word ‘Go,’ but knowing you both are here to help me… It just means a lot, is what I’m trying to say. I don’t know how I can ever really repay you.” She blinked hard, eyes suddenly misty.
Both boys paused, their competition temporarily forgotten. Malleus stepped in front of them, taking both of her hands in his and leaning down so they were eye level. “My Dearest (Y/N),” He began. “I believe I speak for both of us when I say your happiness is of the utmost importance. No sacrifice is too great if it leads to your bliss.”
“Yeah!” Ace jumped in. “You know, not to get sappy or anything. But with everything going on here, you know you can count on us for anything. We’ve got your back, no matter what.” Ace looked past (Y/N) at Malleus. “You know what I mean, right?”
Malleus definitely knew what Ace meant.
Bonus bonus: Ace and Deuce vs Jade and Floyd
“Well,” (Y/N) said, dusting off the stubborn sand that still clung to her clothes. “All's well that ends well, right?”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Azul grumbled.
The five of them, (Y/N), Grim, Azul, Jade, and Floyd, looked over at Jamil and Kalim. The taller boy was sitting cross-legged amongst the many piled high pillows and low couches in the Scarabia dorm common room. He was still clearly exhausted from his Overblot, but nonetheless he kept trying to stand and move around. Kalim would, not unkindly, push him back down, darting everywhere like an anxious bird to pick up various snacks, blankets, and tea to present to Jamil. Grim had already descended on the spread and was devouring a plate of baklava. Rushing over with a plate of petit fours, Kalim’s foot caught on the edge of an elaborate area rug, causing him to trip. He fell flat on his face, but popped back up with a smile, having saved the tiny cakes from damage. Jamil sighed, shoulders slouching, his face collapsing in his hand.
“Well enough,” (Y/N) decided with a smile. “Seriously, I can’t thank you guys enough. You’re lifesavers, literally.”
Floyd threw his arm around his brother’s and (Y/N)’s shoulders, bringing the three of them in a tight hug. “So, Shrimpy owes us one, huh? That’s fun. Got any ideas, Jade?”
“Oh, I’m sure we could come up with a way you can repay us,” Jade said with a sly smile.
Azul rolled his eyes at his friend's antics, heading over to schmooze with Jamil.
(Y/N) felt her face heat up at the close proximity to the two boys, not to mention that particular look in their eyes that seemed a cross between playful affection and a predator that had just spotted its next meal.
She laughed nervously. “Well, yeah, sure. Or maybe we can call it even from that time you kicked me out of my house.”
“Aww, you know we didn’t mean anything by it!” Floyd pouted. “It was all part of Azul’s deal! We were just following orders, you know?”
“Yes, I’m sure you took absolutely no pleasure in throwing me out on the streets.”
“If we’re discussing pleasure,” Jade said. “I think a return visit to Ramshackle would be a fine way to settle this debt. There is some sort of charm I miss in that dilapidated old building.”
“Hey, I’ve spent a lot of time fixing that place up!”
“Perfect,” Jade said, leaning down so his face was level with hers, mouth next to her ear. “ Then you’ll have to personally give us a tour of all the improvements."
Floyd squeezed a little harder, his own face coming down to her other ear. “Everyone’s still gone for winter break. Must be lonely up there. Jade and I can come keep you company.”
Flustered and face burning, (Y/N) stuttered out, “Uh, well, if you wanted to come hang out I suppose that’s okay-”
“(Y/N)!”
The new voice broke whatever carefully crafted mood the two eels had cultivated. Looking up, Jade and Floyd with an annoyed frown and (Y/N) with curious wide eyes, they looked to the entrance of Scarabia that led to the mirror portal.
(Y/N) was worried it was a mirage at first, a cruel hallucination caused by the stress of the last few days, exhaustion from dealing with a fourth Overblot, and the heat of the desert. But no, it was real. Ace and Deuce, running up the fountain-lined entrance of Scarabia, school blazers slung off and shirt sleeves rolled up.
(Y/N) didn’t expect the sudden bursting in her chest. With a sob that surprised even her, she broke away from Jade and Floyd’s grip, running to meet the two other first years half way. She missed how the twins clutched at the air behind her, unwilling to give up a treasure or aching for the memory of the heat of her skin. Without waiting for a proper hello or explanation, (Y/N) threw her arms around the Heartslabyul boys in the tightest hug she could manage, hoping to convey all her emotions through that action since words had abandoned her.
“Hey, hey!” Ace said, awkwardly patting her back in the outburst of emotion. Although he couldn’t help the feeling of self satisfaction that came with knowing (Y/N) was so happy to see him. “Easy, already! We came here to save you, didn’t we?”
“We got your text!” Deuce said. His hands floated over her back, unsure how exactly a proper honor student would handle a situation with a crying girl. Even if his first instinct was to pull her close and never let go.
She pushed back, still holding them at arms length and taking shuddering breaths to calm herself down. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I-I didn’t think you’d come! I didn’t even know if that text went though.”
“Didn’t think we’d come?” Ace said, incredulously. “Come on, we go through three Overblots, a monster in the mines, a heist in the middle of the ocean, and you don’t think we’d come help our best friend out when we get an SOS text out of nowhere?”
“Four Overblots, actually,” Jade said, him and Floyd sliding up to the reunion.
“Not that you’d know,” Floyd added. “We already did all the hard stuff. Right, (Y/N)?”
“Oh, yeah, right!” (Y/N) said. She wiped away the stray tears from her eyes. “You guys won’t believe the week I’ve had. Well, maybe you will, it’s kind of seeming par for the course at this rate.”
“Wait, there was another Overblot?” Deuce gasped.
(Y/N) nodded. “Yup. And I thought Crowley said these things were supposed to be rare.”
“Not… Kalim?” Ace said, looking over to the common room. “You know, with the house warden trend and all.”
“No, it was Jamil.”
“What! Jamil? I play basketball with that guy! That doesn't…” Ace paused for a second, thinking. “Okay, wait, yeah, no, that actually makes sense now that I think about it.”
“Well, we’re all okay now,” (Y/N) said. She took a step backward, tapping Jade and Floyd. “It wouldn’t have been possible without these guys and Azul.”
“You went to Octavinelle for help?” Deuce said, sounding a little betrayed.
“It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, and a flying carpet is actually really hard to drive, and I didn’t know if you guys had gotten my message or not, and things were getting really dire, and-”
“No need to justify yourself, (Y/N),” Jade said. “Octavinelle is based on the Sea Witch’s spirit of benevolence, after all. Of course we would be more than happy to come to the aid of a damsel in distress. In a timely manner, of course.”
“Yeah,” Floyd said, pulling (Y/N) into a backwards hug and resting his chin on the top of her head. “We already took care of all the hard stuff. So I guess there’s no reason you guppies need to stay around, huh?”
Ace grabbed (Y/N)’s hand and pulled her back to his and Deuce’s side. “(Y/N) called us. It sounds like she just kind of ran into you guys by accident.”
Floyd grabbed her back. “Well, we’re the ones who actually helped out. We’re all super close now. What’s that thing called, Jade?”
“Trama bonding.”
“Yeah, we’re totally trauma bonded.”
“Hey!” Deuce interjected. “If anything, we’re way more trauma bonded than you!”
“Okay!” (Y/N) said, holding her hands up between the two groups. “Not that I wouldn’t love to remember all the awful stuff that’s happened in the past few months, but I think we need to save Jamil again.” She nodded her head back towards the common room. While they couldn’t make out what he was saying, it was clear from Azul’s body language that he was trying to pitch something to the vice-house warden. Jamil looked like he was ready to throttle the merman. “Come on, you guys are here anyway. Might as well enjoy some time off before classes start again.” Grim waved her over, proudly showing off that he had saved a piece of baklava just for her, since he was such a good boss for this hench-human and all. (Y/N) picked him up gratefully and inserted herself between Azul and Jamil.
The two groups back at the entrance glared at each other.
“Tweels,” Ace hissed.
“ADeuce,” Jade shot back.
“Don’t think this makes anything even,” Deuce said, punching his fist into his palm. Once he realized he was doing it, he shook out his hands and crossed his arms.
“Yeah,” Ace said. “(Y/N)’s our best friend.”
“Oh, did you hear that, Floyd?” Jade said, grinning.
“Yeah,” Floyd replied, matching his brother's teasing tone. “He said ‘friend’.”
“Well, friends are all well and good, but I think we’re interested in a little more than that. And if the position is open, who better than her recent saviors to fill it?” Floyd started cackling as the two quickly made their way over to the little party.
“Wh- Hey, wait!” Ace called out.
“There is absolutely no position to fill!” Deuce yelled after them. “And if there was, we’d get first dibs!”
Fun fact! Water actually turns “blood red” when it is contaminated by sulfur creating sulfuric acid. And scientists have discovered that around the time of the plagues a volcano went off that disturbed Egypt’s environment. So the plagues are scientifically proven. The other parts of the plagues are explained by the sulfuric acid river making the animals leave the river and escaping into the human population.
if anyone wants a full list heres how they happened:
basically they all stem from a massive eruption of a volcano on the island of santorini off the coast of greece. the ash then floated over to egypt which kickstarted the plagues
1) blood: the ash carried the mineral cinnabar, which has the capability of turning water red
2) frogs: the ash also had many toxic and acidic substances so naturally, all the frogs are gonna flee the river
3) lice: given what was going on insects would have burrowed into dead animals/peoples skin and laid eggs, which then hatched
4) beasts: everything is getting poisoned from the ash and toxins, causing animals to freak the fuck out/die
5) pestilence: toxins again
6) boils: the ash would have caused storms that carried acid rain which when it fell, would irritate peoples skin causing boils
7) hail: the storm again
8) locusts: again with the insects and the amount of dead bodies and such which attract more insects. a lotta insects basically.
9) darkness: the ash covered the sky, blocking out the sun
10) slaying of the first born: given that children’s bodies were found in higher numbers than others, some archeologists think they may have been sacrificed to stop all the destruction, but they aren’t 100% sure about that. this is just me but I would say another possibility is that babies/kids are a lot more susceptible to toxins and shit, so while an adult may have been fine or gotten a bit sick, it might have been very dangerous/deadly for kids or babies
the volcano would also attest for the parting of the sea weirdly enough. the red sea was in fact the ‘reed’ sea, and was very shallow, probably waist deep or so. given the amount of shit dumped into the ocean from the volcano, this wouldve caused a tsunami to head towards egypt. the water would get sucked out from the reed sea right before the tsunami hit, letting people pass it easily, then the actual tsunami would hit, fuckin up anyone who tried to follow.
another theory is that the red water was caused by algae, which would cause the frogs and stuff to jump out as well. the algae also carried substances toxic to animals so if they ingested any they’d get sick and die, so more insects. in this theory there was a sand storm coincidentally that caused the rest
The volcano wasn’t ON Santorini - it WAS Santorini, then called Thera. It completely blew away the Minoan settlements on the island and was one of the largest eruptions in human history.
The tsunamis from the Theran eruption devastated Crete, weakening the then-powerful Minoan civilization, leaving them open to being invaded by the Mycenaeans.
The volcanic winter it created devastated crops in China leading to the fall of the Xia Dynasty.
The abrupt and catastrophic loss of the people of Thera may have also inspired the myths about Atlantis.
I love that if you really boil all this information down, what you get is something approximating “the sinking of Atlantis caused the 10 Biblical plagues of Egypt” which is, like, one of the greatest mythological mash-ups I have ever heard of.
I originally had nothing planned for today, and yet here I am, throwing a bunch of bad Valentine’s Day cards together anyways. Ah well, I hope everyone is having a lovely day!
Each time I think about how they took out the Goldy Pond arc, I get so angry. Cause like not only was it a good ass arc, getting rid of it takes out something integral to the story as a whole, that I just don’t think they realized/cared about:
The validation of Emma’s beliefs.
Emma is established to be this happy-go-lucky character right? And as the children are still in Grace Field, you see that she still keeps this demeanor while juggling the new graveness of the situation she is in. While losing some of her naivety, she still shows herself capable of being someone hopeful for the future who will not let her circumstances get the better of her. The most important part of what makes this WORK for her character (instead of making it annoying and unrealistic) is the fact that she both acknowledged and experiences the tragedy of the world she is trying to be hopeful in. It’s not some little girl being like “I believe everything’s gonna be fine! Sparkles and rainbows!” while being shielded from the darker parts of the world. It’s a little girl who looks in the face of the darkness and that terrible world and is in the MIDST of it. It’s a little girl who found the dead body of her younger sibling and was faced with the reality that her whole life was a lie. It’s a little girl who realized her whole family was going to die and fought to grab onto her hope despite how overwhelmingly bleak their situation was. She knew and yet she didn’t hesitate to believe that they could escape. She knew and still wanted to yell to the world that she was going to save EVERYONE. Seeing someone so unwaveringly hopeful even after being hit with devastating loss and despair is like a beacon for anyone else struggling to keep surviving. Emma is lovable for how she loves—how her hope and determination stands fast in the face of adversity and still goes forward even as more events threaten to shake and bend it.
For whatever reason season 2 was changed the way it was (I’ve heard many things)(if it was because of the guns then WHY pick up the anime in the first place bc you derail EVERYTHING) it could never stand completely without Goldy Pond.
Goldy Pond is in plain terms Emma’s defining arc. It seems to be pushing forward a question whose answer will define the rest of the series.
“Who is Emma?”
Not as she is with her siblings. Not as she is when there is her family there to keep her going. Who is Emma, and how will she grow from here on out?
Goldy Pond is the first time Emma is “alone”. She has none of her siblings around her and she is in an unfamiliar environment, with people she does not know. People by all means unconnected to her when she has a family to get back to and protect.
But Emma doesn’t treat them that way. She cares for each stranger she meets, jeopardizing her safety by using herself as bait—by charging forward into battle to protect them and change the demons’ focus. As the arc progresses and she meshes herself into the other children’s ranks, treating them as family as well, it seems to be clear what the answer is. As she serves as a distraction in this main fight. As she reminds them of details of HOW they can win this fight even when there seems to be no hope left. When she gets empaled and STILL takes a shot to kill Duke Leuvis.
Emma is hopeful and kind and self-sacrificing. She treats strangers as she would treat her family, and cares for all lives the same. She is so overwhelmingly forthright and sincere in her emotions and love, that you can’t help but want to support and follow her. That is who Emma is. She is not naive. She has seen death and battle and bleak circumstances but still rises to the challenge EVERY time — and most importantly this time was the bleakest so far. This time she was “ALONE”.
She has the experience behind her to make her care for all things “valid”. This is not a silly, childish little girl not knowing all the different aspects of her declarations. She says they will survive and you can take her for her word because she knows what it’s like to be near death. But specifically and more crucially for Goldy Pond (and therefore the rest of the series): Emma says that she wants to save demons. And with Goldy Pond, you can take her word for it.
When Norman declares that his way of saving everyone is to have a demon genocide, the most important part of this is that we as the readers support Emma and her viewpoint (that the demons should not be killed.) Her viewpoint is valid in the manga because of what she has gone through. Emma says she wants to save demons and we can take her for her word because she has experience at the hands of some of the worst cruelty from demons possible. She and other children were hunted for sport. She was placed in a mockery of a sanctuary and hunted down for demons entertainment—not for the demon’s hunger or survival but for FUN. And she still turns around and says that she believes there are GOOD demons.
Without this, Emma has nothing in her experience for her to stand toe to toe with Norman’s beliefs. She looks like a naive, silly child trying to justify a foolish dream when she has experienced nothing of the world. It’s practically an insult to Norman and his experiences and it doesn’t give off what it should to the watcher. How are we supposed to believe in Emma (and go against a GENOCIDE) when it seems as if the writers want to paint that the genocide is the reasonable answer (when it fucking ISNT). And this is all because without Goldy Pond, Emma doesn’t have the experience to be meaningfully hopeful. She can’t properly value her positive experience with Mujika because she doesn’t not have a big enough negative experience to weight it against (and gracefield isn’t good enough bc Norman has gone through more than that). For Emma to have weight, she needs to be able to weight the good and the bad and STILL choose good. To still choose to be hopeful and caring.
Getting rid of Goldy Pond got rid of such an important foundation of Emma as a character and I can never forgive them for that.
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Each time I think about how they took out the Goldy Pond arc, I get so angry. Cause like not only was it a good ass arc, getting rid of it takes out something integral to the story as a whole, that I just don’t think they realized/cared about:
The validation of Emma’s beliefs.
Emma is established to be this happy-go-lucky character right? And as the children are still in Grace Field, you see that she still keeps this demeanor while juggling the new graveness of the situation she is in. While losing some of her naivety, she still shows herself capable of being someone hopeful for the future who will not let her circumstances get the better of her. The most important part of what makes this WORK for her character (instead of making it annoying and unrealistic) is the fact that she both acknowledged and experiences the tragedy of the world she is trying to be hopeful in. It’s not some little girl being like “I believe everything’s gonna be fine! Sparkles and rainbows!” while being shielded from the darker parts of the world. It’s a little girl who looks in the face of the darkness and that terrible world and is in the MIDST of it. It’s a little girl who found the dead body of her younger sibling and was faced with the reality that her whole life was a lie. It’s a little girl who realized her whole family was going to die and fought to grab onto her hope despite how overwhelmingly bleak their situation was. She knew and yet she didn’t hesitate to believe that they could escape. She knew and still wanted to yell to the world that she was going to save EVERYONE. Seeing someone so unwaveringly hopeful even after being hit with devastating loss and despair is like a beacon for anyone else struggling to keep surviving. Emma is lovable for how she loves—how her hope and determination stands fast in the face of adversity and still goes forward even as more events threaten to shake and bend it.
For whatever reason season 2 was changed the way it was (I’ve heard many things)(if it was because of the guns then WHY pick up the anime in the first place bc you derail EVERYTHING) it could never stand completely without Goldy Pond.
Goldy Pond is in plain terms Emma’s defining arc. It seems to be pushing forward a question whose answer will define the rest of the series.
“Who is Emma?”
Not as she is with her siblings. Not as she is when there is her family there to keep her going. Who is Emma, and how will she grow from here on out?
Goldy Pond is the first time Emma is “alone”. She has none of her siblings around her and she is in an unfamiliar environment, with people she does not know. People by all means unconnected to her when she has a family to get back to and protect.
But Emma doesn’t treat them that way. She cares for each stranger she meets, jeopardizing her safety by using herself as bait—by charging forward into battle to protect them and change the demons’ focus. As the arc progresses and she meshes herself into the other children’s ranks, treating them as family as well, it seems to be clear what the answer is. As she serves as a distraction in this main fight. As she reminds them of details of HOW they can win this fight even when there seems to be no hope left. When she gets empaled and STILL takes a shot to kill Duke Leuvis.
Emma is hopeful and kind and self-sacrificing. She treats strangers as she would treat her family, and cares for all lives the same. She is so overwhelmingly forthright and sincere in her emotions and love, that you can’t help but want to support and follow her. That is who Emma is. She is not naive. She has seen death and battle and bleak circumstances but still rises to the challenge EVERY time — and most importantly this time was the bleakest so far. This time she was “ALONE”.
She has the experience behind her to make her care for all things “valid”. This is not a silly, childish little girl not knowing all the different aspects of her declarations. She says they will survive and you can take her for her word because she knows what it’s like to be near death. But specifically and more crucially for Goldy Pond (and therefore the rest of the series): Emma says that she wants to save demons. And with Goldy Pond, you can take her word for it.
When Norman declares that his way of saving everyone is to have a demon genocide, the most important part of this is that we as the readers support Emma and her viewpoint (that the demons should not be killed.) Her viewpoint is valid in the manga because of what she has gone through. Emma says she wants to save demons and we can take her for her word because she has experience at the hands of some of the worst cruelty from demons possible. She and other children were hunted for sport. She was placed in a mockery of a sanctuary and hunted down for demons entertainment—not for the demon’s hunger or survival but for FUN. And she still turns around and says that she believes there are GOOD demons.
Without this, Emma has nothing in her experience for her to stand toe to toe with Norman’s beliefs. She looks like a naive, silly child trying to justify a foolish dream when she has experienced nothing of the world. It’s practically an insult to Norman and his experiences and it doesn’t give off what it should to the watcher. How are we supposed to believe in Emma (and go against a GENOCIDE) when it seems as if the writers want to paint that the genocide is the reasonable answer (when it fucking ISNT). And this is all because without Goldy Pond, Emma doesn’t have the experience to be meaningfully hopeful. She can’t properly value her positive experience with Mujika because she doesn’t not have a big enough negative experience to weight it against (and gracefield isn’t good enough bc Norman has gone through more than that). For Emma to have weight, she needs to be able to weight the good and the bad and STILL choose good. To still choose to be hopeful and caring.
Getting rid of Goldy Pond got rid of such an important foundation of Emma as a character and I can never forgive them for that.
The ground in these places is too compact for water to soak in during wet season which leads to flooding but digging these holes gives the water a place to stop and soak in. And they’re pushing back the desert with this. By just digging holes.
The new plants also help even more water soak into the ground which reduces flooding even more.
These places also give people places to grow food and graze animals like people are turning completely dry compact desert into a refuge for wildlife and plants and solving regional food insecurity just by digging holes.
#someone explain this to me like im stupid#I thought one molecule of water is just like#H2O
One molecule of water has 2 hydrogens
The solar system has one star
The statement is correct
The joke is that "there are more molecules in a single glass of water than stars in the galaxy" is a common thing to say. So the reader immediately sees "hydrogens in a single molecule of water" and assumes that the writer of the statement has made a mistake. It can take a few readings before noticing that the writer said "stars in the solar system" and not the expected "galaxy", the writer was correct all along, it is us who is the fool. Such fun.
Is... is the sun... the only star in this solar system? Aren't there other smaller stars? Or maybe the sun is just the nearest one? All the stars in the night sky are not in our solar system?
(This galaxy is Andromeda, we can't get a great perspective shot of ours because we're inside it, but you get the idea.)
The solar system has one star (Sol, our sun.) The stars you see at night have their own solar systems. They're the other stars in our galaxy. So isn't very big, as stars go, so a lot of those stars are not smaller than ours. Just far away.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Context: Being a decent person is quite a rare thing in NRC and many of the students there wanted to have some time with you, but your inner circle of friends won't let that slide at all. Here are some of their reaction to someone bothering their time with you.
Other dorms: Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde, Diasomnia
Ace ♥️
Deuce ♠️
Cater♦️
Trey ♣️
Riddle🌹
I'll be back with posting the next part later next week! Hope you like this new series I've made! :3
Character duo where one *remembers I don’t like fitting characters into trope boxes* is a completely fleshed out and realised person *remembers treating characters as real people and not story devices written with intent is bad* who is written by the author and *remembers death of the author* uh. And *fumbles and drops my pile of queue cards* ah fuck wait no *the menacing horse* what was that.
severely dehydrated @helpwhat - Tumblr Blog | Tumlook
