I really liked this prompt @Jackalope08, so I wanted to take my time with it. The beginning is clunky because it was hard to set the setting. Still, I hope you like it! Thank you for sending in a request!
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It wasn't often that you found yourself at odds with someone so quickly. It often took poking around in their business for them to make up their minds about you.
For Jamil, it just took one incident.
Granted, it was one helluvan incident.
And in your defense, it was Ace and Grim's fault.
You told them not to get cocky when divvying out the powdered bristleroot, as it's known to over-react with one of the other ingredients, so you only need a little - But they didn't exactly listen.
Especially when they added the first bit and nothing happened immediately.
Jamil wasn't blind to your scuffle, but it seems he was expecting you to reign them in, since you're a dorm leader and all. Jokes on him, you'd never been able to reign in Grim.
And you'd never been able to get Ace to stick to a recipe without it blowing up in his face first.
So when your table's potion began to breathe.. The liquid inside the cauldron heaving and exhaling… You already knew what was coming.
"GET DOWN, SHE'S GONNA BLOW" You called out, throwing yourself to the floor before the potion exploded.
Jamil ended up getting a face-full of the failed potion's ingredients - It's a good thing he was at least wearing all his lab equipment, because it coated him like a slime.
While Crewel was pissed, Jamil apparently took some very personal offense with your behavior that day.
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It wasn't until you two ended up having to work on a project together that you even learned that he didn't like you. And THAT came about because you kept trying to do your share of the work, and he kept taking work from you.
"I'll take care of the presentation materials."
"No no, it's okay, I'll take care of the presentation materials."
"But you're already taking care of the presentation speech. I can take care of the presentation slides and reading materials."
"What is THAT supposed to mean?"
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Needless to say, his opinion of you didn't change even when you did the work.
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It seems someone's first opinion of you is hard to rewrite. Which sucks, because you actually thought Jamil was cool until he showed you how little he thinks of you.
Once he showed himself to be the kind of person who writes you off without getting to know you, you found yourself not giving a shit about his opinion.
When Winter Break came around, he thought he could just control you like a pawn to get his desired result. Unfortunately for him, when you set your mind to something - Even if it was a conclusion he forced your mind to come to - You do it.
So when you got it in your mind to free the students from their plight, you did as you always do and made the best of it with your resources. Unfortunately for Jamil, he underestimated you, and he underestimated just how… perceptive you were.
When you learned who was behind Kalim's behavior.. Jamil had to.. contain you.
And you didn't take well to containment.
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His overblot would have been surprising, if you'd still had respect for the guy, but when you were the one to pull him out of it and get his dorm back in order, Jamil found himself.. embarrassed.
And yet you were the one helping him come out of the darkness - And when you did, he saw the passive look on your face.
The look of someone who had no respect for him.
"I- … Did I just overblot..?"
"Yeah, dumbass. You went full blown cartoon villain mode and started mind-controlling your whole dorm. Good luck cleaning up THAT mess!" You waved him off as you started leaving, laughing at how much he fucked himself over. It was cathartic to see someone who thought so lowly of the people around them get their just desserts.
The way you walk around without responsibilities.. You only have ONE dorm member to take care of, while he's balancing the care of an entire dorm on his shoulders and getting NONE of the credit.
He found himself bitter that you seemed to think you were somehow better than him when you obviously had fewer hurdles.
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It wasn't until your second year at Night Raven College that this bubbled over.
You two passively grew to hate each other, assuming the worst out of each other, because you only gave each other your worst.
You were paired together on a project - The first time in a long time that you had to work together. But it wasn't just any project…
You'd both been chosen for the Starsending Festival.
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Jamil starts off the meeting with "Us three have been chosen as Starsenders - That means we have to work together-"
Only for the third member of your group to groan. "We're never going to beat those guys from last year! They had an insane lightshow because one of them literally went to space! None of us can do that."
"I've already spoken with Ortho and Idia and they're willing to help with the presentation of the final dance and the showcase of the star wishes." You toss this out off-hand, mostly tuned out from the meeting. You don't want to be here, and you don't want to listen to Jamil go on and on about how irresponsible the two of you are and how he's going to have to carry the whole show.
Jamil looks at you with surprise. Talking to Idia and Ortho was already on his list to accomplish today.
Your third team member, a student from Savanaclaw, raises his eyebrow at you. "Oh yeah? You got proof?"
You tug your phone out and call Ortho. His chipper voice comes through on the phone. "Hey Ortho, I'm with the other Starsender representatives at the moment, and they wanted to make sure we're on the same page - You and Idia are gonna help us this year, yeah?"
"Yes!! I'm so excited to take everyone's wishes to the stars again this year~! My brother is going to help me with some boosters and stabilizers, so the show can be even more spectacular this year! We're thinking about setting up a planned fireworks show that can end when I reach the correct altitude for the stars to fill the sky!"
"Thank you, Ortho. It sounds like you're doing well more than your fair share, so please let me know if there's anything I can do to help you."
"Of course! Thank YOU for letting us help!"
You hang up and look to the Savanaclaw student with the most smug 'I told you so' expression- Only to find that he's genuinely excited, which catches you off-guard and makes you laugh.
"Oh man, oh man! If we've got those guys, then we've gotta get practicing the dance!! And collecting wishes!!" The Savanaclaw student seems rejuvenated that he actually has a chance to do better than last year's team.
You briefly remember that Savanaclaw's students tend to not be motivated to strike unless they can see assurance of their goals in front of them.
Jamil cuts in. "With that out of the way, we have to choose who will be performing the dance, and who will do drums-"
"I WANNA DO DRUMS!" The Savanaclaw student jumps up excitedly. "I don't wanna do the dancing! I wanna rock out on the drums!"
Jamil sighs. "You can't just play whatever you want, there's a proper drumming beat-"
"I WANT THE HARDEST DRUMMING SCRIPT WE HAVE, I'LL MASTER IT. If you try to make me dance, I just won't do it. The drummer really stole the show last year, so I wanna be the drummer!"
Jamil glances at you. He really doesn't want to dance with you, but the other student just won't budge. He sighs, but you decide to speak up. After all, you're not thrilled about the idea either, and you needed something to get the Savanaclaw student on-board with collecting wishes from the other students.
"I think we should have a competition for the position of Drummer." Both of them look at you, confused. A competition? You continue; "Whoever collects the most wishes over the next three days gets to choose which part they'll play. That way, we don't lose much practice time, and we'll have plenty of drive to get as many wishes as possible right at the beginning, which gets the most boring part of the work out of the way."
Jamil's.. Briefly impressed with your fix. You obviously don't want to dance with him, so it seems you've got three people vying for drummer. He looks to the Savanaclaw student who seems to be weighing the options in his head.
"So… whoever gets the most wishes from the other students wins?"
"You have to cross them off your list, or it doesn't count. We have to be able to tally every student who has given their wish so we can verify the results are good."
"So.. I take their wish, cross their name off the list, and then when I have the most, I can be drummer??"
"If you can beat both me and Jamil."
"OH YOU TWO ARE GETTING SMOKED, GIMME A LIST RIGHT HERE AND NOW."
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And so it was decided that you three would battle it out for the position of drummer.
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Part 2
