Chapter 10: Dates and Duels
On Friday Damien approached me. He avoided me, since I told him to go figure out, whether he can deal with becoming friends, so I figured it must be about the
'not-a-date'-date event. "Hello, Elise. Did you enjoy your dinner?" Gasp. Oh my god. I have eaten chili, like the player in the game. And it was way too bland.
Oh no, my free will… Damn you, game manipulation. Ok, time to think 'outside of the box'. I'll simply change the topic, this way the conversation has to differ otherwise Damien would act really strange, right? "Oh, Damien, I haven't seen you for some time. Whatcha doing here?", I ask him.
Damien chuckles at my poor attempt in changing the topic. "I thought so. There are many secrets here you probably haven't found yet - such as the best place to get a good meal. Would you like to come to dinner with me tomorrow, off campus?" I totally want to go. I can't wait to taste the food of the Glen.
But I'm not supposed to know the destination, so I ask, "Where?" "Near the mall, but not quite part of it. It's called the Glen and it's magic-only. The professors go there, then they're too tired to travel, and visiting parents who want to take their student-children somewhere nice." "I see.", I answer, without commenting about the fact that magical parents are allowed to visit. Having a magical background surely is beneficial. "So- would you like to go?", Damien asks me eagerly. I hesitate.
Maybe I should just stay away from him. He IS dangerous. "So… you can deal with being friends now?", I ask him dryly.
"I… what do you want me to say?", he replies, sounding a bit perplexed. It's not really about what I want him to tell me though? Do I have to tell him what kind of lie
I want to hear? This is so ridiculous. I know, that he won't mean it, whatever he will tell me now. If I would continue on his path until the bitter end, then he might actually develop honest feelings towards me, but even in that case I'm not entirely sure, that his 'love' was honest. Seemed more like a selfish obsession to me.
Sure, he would 'build a kingdom' for the player, but that is something he wanted to do from the beginning, right? I wouldn't be surprised, if the continuation of that story would be the Player being partially forced into becoming his queen, unable to leave him, even if she would change her mind.
But then again, I might be wrong about him. I don't know him very well after all, he is not someone, whose true feelings can be assessed.
But given the pleasure he seems to take in making other people suffer… "It's not my task to tell you what to tell me, right? You have to decide, whether you want to get closer to me or not. If you can't open up a bit towards me, then we can't be called 'friends', so in the end the decision lies with you." I hope, I get him to understand, that not letting anyone close in order to strive for power is not worth it, since it will be lonely. But he probably won't understand, will he?
I don't think anyone could 'save' him, but I'll go with the flow for now, instead of downright refusing him. "Right. I can do that. I think."
It makes me feel really ignored, then they simply react like in the game. I wish, I wouldn't have played it so much, then I wouldn't notice how much my words don't matter. "So… you'll come right?" Well, at least the conversations change a bit according to my replies. Some parts are omitted, that's something…
"Well, yeah, I couldn't say no to a magical dinner, could I?" "Great! I'll meet you tomorrow at the mall." Oh no, wait. I won't have time tomorrow, since I'll have to console Ellen. Or would I be able to do both? I don't remember… Argh, why is my memory so inconsistent? Oh well, better safe than sorry.
"Wait, sorry, I can't this week." He looks a bit disappointed. "Oh. Well… how about next week then?" Next week should be alright. "Sure, I'd love to"… eat magical dishes without having to pay for them. Am I a bad person? Probably. But then again, he tries to get his hands on my soul, so it's ok to use him a bit. I guess, I don't really fit the heroine-cliché.
On Saturday morning I fulfil my treasurer duties and distribute the post. There is a letter for Ellen this time. I hand it to her, after arriving back to the dorm room and soon after Ellen lies depressed on her bed, as expected. "What is it?", Virginia inquires. "It-It's nothing. Just a change of plans. Apparently I'm not going home for Thanksgiving." I remain silent. "What?", Virginia asks further, after I didn't react. "Because… It's a long way for such a short break… so it's better for me to stay here…" "Is that what you want?" "That doesn't matter. Really, it doesn't. I – it's not my decision. I can't go home on my own. They don't want me there." Virginia reacts unnaturally sensitive: "Well, we want you here! Don't we, Elise?" I nod, trying to smile in a comforting way. I have delayed my date with magical food for this, after all. I'm not good at consoling, maybe Virginia is better than me at it, even though she sucks so much at reading the atmosphere.
"Come on! We should all do something together today!", Virginia exclaims excitedly. "You don't have to do that. I'm fine, really.", Ellen tries to refuse half-heartedly. "You're fine with not going home? What, do you hate your parents or something?", Virginia probes. So much about her being sensitive.
But then again, she doesn't know, that Ellen's parents don't see Ellen as their daughter. "I don't hate them. They just – don't want me. Mama's probably glad to be rid of me." Seeing Ellen so sad, really hurts my soul. She definitely deserves to be appreciated more. "What about your Dad?"
"He's not around. I live – lived – with my Mama and Justin, my stepfather." "Your father doesn't want to see you?", I ask softly. The game only said, that he left due to her mother cheating on him after all. "That – not really, I think. Mama was… she left him, with us. Because… Jenny's my half-sister. Justin's her dad. My father… was angry? I don't remember a lot, what happened. Then we moved and he eventually stopped writing. Mama says I look like him." I stay silent, since I know, that her family situation won't improve. Telling her, that her family probably wants to see her and it would just be a misunderstanding, would be like adding salt to her wounds. "So, uhh… will you go home on Christmas?", Virginia asks Ellen to fill the silence, which I created, since I didn't want to act according to the game.
"As far as I know." I still remain silent, since I'm at a loss as to what to say. Even without me intervening, Virginia invites Ellen to stay over the holydays.
Makes me envious, I want to visit Virginia's home too. How does the house of a magical family look like? Are they like a 'normal' family? We decide to head outside, where we start to fool around and play tag. Since I had a lot of fun playing around with them, I decide to ask them to spend the next day together as well.
This way I won't be bored.
On Monday Minnie approaches me. "There you are! I've been looking for you. Is everything on course for the fundraiser? You've got it set?" This is an event right? What kind of advice should I give her, regarding Kyo? "Yes, all set.", I answer her. "Great. Here's the papers on the booth location and schedules. Do you mind which time you work?" I want the last shift. I want to be treated to a magical chai by Professor Grabiner. "Uh, no, I don't care at all.", I answer her nonchalantly.
"Only I'm supposed to be somewhere else after the last shift and I know it might run over, so… Yeah… Can I ask you something?" Minnie looks at me, fidgeting nervously. I look back at her with a poker-face. It doesn't matter anyways, what I say, right? "When two people are going out, is it normal for them to spend all their time together? Not with anyone else?" See? So she simply interpreted my silence as a yes. Well, I guess it could be interpreted as a yes in that situation… I sigh.
"Well, there is this thing called 'first-love-phenomenon', where people will ignore their friends and in severe cases even loose them, after getting into a new relationship. This phenomenon usually occurs by inexperienced people, mainly with their first love, which is why I named it this way. That being said, it is advisable to pay attention to this phenomenon, in order to avoid being affected by it, unless you want to find new friends anyways. Also, it is not healthy for a relationship to only spend time with your partner. So to conclude my advice for people affected by this phenomenon: pay attention to your friends. Your world shouldn't revolve around a single person, otherwise you will regret."
This is actually something which I often observed in my circle of friends, people would neglect their friends for the first few months of a new relationship, since they would be in 'lovey-dovey-land'. I also nearly lost some of my friends due to my first boyfriend, but we were able to mend our relationships, before they broke off.
I lost one of my friends however, since he (yes, he, guys are not immune against this phenomenon) wouldn't spend time with us for MONTHS!
It's a sad story, really, but usually it's not that severe. "Right. Well, thanks for your help. I'll talk to you later." And with that, she disappeared.
Have I mentioned already, how much ignored I feel due to these events?
I mean, it's like I have no real influence on the conversation at all! Apart from the game choices, of course.
On Thursday we freshmen assembled in the gym for our first duel practice, like in the game. I try to pair up with someone besides Donald, but Virginia and Ellen are immediately paired up. I look for Minnie, but she's already paired up with Kyo. "Hey Elise, let's pair up." I turn around to see a smiling Donald.
No chance for escape, huh. Well, technically I could say no, but that would be way too awkward for me, besides, I don't have another option at the moment.
"Sure.", I answer him with a weak smile. Donald lets me try first and I half-heartedly try to cast a weakness-spell. Before I can hit him, he freezes me, as expected. Next is his turn and I prepare an illusion of myself behind me. As he starts casting his spell, I take a step to the side, while changing my hair color to black. My method is a bit needlessly complex, since I have to uphold two illusions at the same time, but I practised this in advance.
The illusions in itself turned out pretty lousy, I mean, it's 2D and badly drawn, but Donald didn't expect my move and didn't have enough time to notice the low quality. "What? What do you call that?", he asks me perplexed. "Thinking outside of the box?", I answer, feeling cheeky. We continue like that for a while, but inevitably Donald leans in to whisper to my about his 'great plan', for which I should lie down on the floor. As I already know, what his surprise is about, I simply sigh. "Do you really need to attend detention every weekend? Do you enjoy the company of Grabiner that much?" Donald looks at me surprised. "Well, whatever. I have plans for this weekend, so I can't join you in your date with Grabby, so you'll have to deal with Potsdam on your own." After that, I lie down, like a well-behaved girl and watch Donald casting his fire dragon. Considering, that he simply breaks a rule Potsdam had mentioned before, his way of attaining detention is really uncreative.
I guess it's hard to think of new ways to get into detention every week. Being the bad kid seems to be a full-time-job for Donald, since he also has to find ways to help Potsdam in order to get merits and not be expelled. After Donald casted his spell, Potsdam immediately appears to give him detention and I remain quiet.
Or at least I planned to do so. "Professor Potsdam, I'm sorry for interrupting, but… Donald didn't endanger me. He told me to duck, before he casted the fire-dragon. The mischief he causes, would never hurt someone." Ahh, goodbye funny jelly. You'll be missed. Potsdam proceeds to give me detention and I sigh. My heart is too soft sometimes. At least Donald thanks me or sticking up for him.