The next day was a strange one for everybody in the club. For Monika, it was a deluge of both creativity and self-doubt. For every great idea she had, ten bad ones came to mind before it. She had actually procured a notebook specifically for noting down ideas, and at this point, she had already filled out a quarter of the pages.
And about half of those ideas were crossed out, some with notes beside them such as "too confusing" or "not very fun." But occasionally Monika had an idea she enjoyed so much she felt the need to highlight it in bright green. On the first two pages of this notebook she had clearly and concisely planned today's session out so that it would run smoothly and quickly. Unbeknownst to her, Murphy's law would soon show its ugly head.
On the player side of things, between classes Yuri, Sayori, and Natsuki had planned to come together to discuss some matters of importance. Sayori practically skipped down the long white hallway. It was mostly barren down this wing except for the occasional poster or cork board with trivial reminders pinned to it. Her bag hung lazily off her slender shoulder. The top of the bag remained unzipped, with about enough room for somebody to put an outstretched hand through. Sayori went about her day, blissfully unaware of the precarious nature of her bag.
She approached the stairwell, where two silhouettes stood in the shadow of the landing. She called out to them, waving both hands with vigor. The curvier silhouette gave a shy raise of the hand, while the miniature form rose and approached. It was Natsuki, of course. Sayori could have spotted her from a mile away with that height.
"We've been waiting forever," Natsuki complained as Sayori approached.
"It's okay, Natsuki, calm down," Yuri said.
"Yeah, Natsuki, don't worry about it! I'm here and I'm all ready." Natsuki raised an eyebrow, then looked her up and down. She clicked her tongue.
"You got your notebook?" Sayori slid her bag from her shoulder to her hand, and began rifling through it.
"Yep!"
"Pencils?"
"Yep!"
"Got your character sheet?" Sayori dug into her bag all the way up to her elbow.
"Uhh, yep!" She retrieved the crumpled, creased piece of paper and held it up proudly. Yuri sighed in the background, and Natsuki sucked her teeth.
"Gah! You gotta put it in a binder or something! Don't just throw it in there! Geez! Give it here." She snatched the paper from Sayori and attempted to flatten it out enough for it to be presentable.
"I agree, Sayori, you can't be so careless with that sheet," Yuri's voice resonated with a slight echo, making her already gentle voice sound like lavender and silk. Natsuki had flattened out the sheet against the wall and was now using her forearm to try and iron out a particularly stubborn wrinkle.
"If you let this thing get all torn up, Monika'll think you don't care!" Guilt was beginning to gnaw at Sayori's gut. She opened her mouth to murmur an apology, but all that came out was a nervous chuckle. "Monika's put a lot of work into this, we can't let her down." That made Sayori break out into an ear-to-ear grin.
"Aw, Natsuki." She stopped her ironing to throw a sideways glance at the beaming girl.
"W-What?"
"It's sweet to see you care so much." A powerful heat crawled up Natsuki's neck and over her cheeks.
"It's whatever! I just don't want her to be all mad at us, alright? Geez, Yuri, could ya do something here?" Yuri chirped at the sound of her name.
"Oh, yes. Maybe try this." Yuri delicately took the paper from Natsuki's equally delicate hands and began rolling it over the edge of a small table that was left in the hallway. From what they could see it seemed to be at least moderately more effective.
While Yuri was dealing with that, Natsuki turned back to ask her final question.
"Oh, you got your dice?" Sayori confidently nodded as she began rifling through her bag once more. That confidence slowly dripped out of her as she exasperatedly slid her hand through the bottom of the bag, only to feel nothing but the edges of books and papers. Anxiety quickly took its place.
Sayori upended her bag onto the floor, sending a scatter of papers fluttering through the air.
"Sayori!" Natsuki exclaimed as she snatched one of the rogue bits of homework from the air. Yuri turned back from her repairs to notice the outburst. Sayori was on her hands and knees shuffling through papers and flipping binders open, desperately searching for her dice.
"No, no, no!" She cried.
"Sayori, calm down." Natsuki's eyes widened as she witnessed Sayori's increasingly frantic search.
"I lost them! I lost the dice! I'm such an idiot!" Fat, hot tears of dread began filling Sayori's eyes, but she blinked them back. It only now occurred to her how outlandish her episode looked from the outside. She had to recover. She couldn't let them see it. She couldn't let them know.
She forced a laugh. She prayed it sounded genuine.
"I'm sorry. I just...I know I had them, ya know? I checked just a minute ago." Sayori began gathering her papers and books with the help of Natsuki and Yuri.
"Well, geez, that's what happens when you leave your bag open." Natsuki sighed and shook her head. A wave of relief washed over Sayori. She didn't suspect anything.
"If you checked a minute ago, then they couldn't be far from here. I'll go take a look." Yuri handed Sayori the sheet and began searching the hallway she'd come from with a sense of purpose.
"I just felt bad, ya know?" Sayori continued her apology. "Everybody got so ready, and here I am holding us up. Hehe."
"Don't worry about it, we'll find em. Nothing to go tossing your bag in the floor for. Oh, dang, we missed one." Natsuki spotted the last sheet of paper. A simple sheet of notebook paper that had half-hidden itself under a set of lockers.
Sayori's eyes widened as she recognized a doodle in the corner of the margin. Her stomach dropped out like a rotten floorboard. Above all, nobody could see that paper. Natsuki reached forward, but it was much too slow against Sayori's full-body dive toward it. She shielded the paper from view with her body, then tucked it into the inner pocket of her school uniform blazer. She then rolled over, still on the ground and gave a radiant smile.
"Too slow!" She extended a peace sign and a wink. Natsuki shook her head and snorted.
"So weird, Sayori." The petite girl rose, then offered a hand to her.
"I know. But somebody's gotta be, right?"
"I guess. Oh, hey, Yuri looks like she found something. Yuri!" Natsuki traveled down the hall, leaving Sayori behind. In that moment of solitude, Sayori bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood. That had been beyond too close.
The final bell tolled. It was a call for freedom for most, but for some it was a call to action. Students weaved and bobbed their way through the exiting crowds to find safe haven in various rooms. Some were all but fished out of the crowd by their eager clubmates. Natsuki was one of those fish struggling against the raging rapids that was the student body. Not to mention the terrible disadvantage her diminutive size gave her. Eventually she was able to all but throw herself from the crowd and find a moment of respite against a pillar.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she gave the crowd a few moments to pass by and decompress. She struggled to see the tail end of the pulsating river of people, but waiting was out of the question. She refused to be late. Not today. She took a moment to formulate a plan. Once she had, all she had to do was choose a target.
"You!" She cried as she snatched the hand of a tall, lanky young man. He cawed like a crow in shock when she snatched his clammy hand, then spun him around to face the crowd.
"Who are you?" was the question he decided to go with. Natsuki ignored it as she put a hand on his back, and pushed him forward still holding his other hand like a handle. He stumbled and nearly tripped as he made contact with the first person ahead of him.
"Hey, watch it!" the shorter boy shouted as he was pushed to the side, nearly drowning in the uncaring river.
"Who are you?" he repeated, only to be ignored again. Natsuki could see the stairs to her left. She just needed a little more room. The lanky boy she was currently using as a battering ram began to wisen up to the situation and yanked his arm away from her.
She tried to hold on, but her own arms simply weren't strong enough. That was okay. She had feet. She pulled a leg up to her chest, placed her foot on the young man's backside, and launched him forward. This time he did trip. Thankfully, he was unharmed, just incredibly confused and discombobulated. As his giant form toppled over, it cleared enough of a path in the shuffling student body for Natsuki to leap over his prostrated form and find safe passage on the other side of the river.
"Who are you?" he called out to her one last time.
"Natsuki! Thanks!" She replied gleefully, not even wasting the time to turn around to see his confused expression.
Yuri sat at her desk, thoughtlessly tapping her pen. Monika had already arranged the desks for the game, so there wasn't much she could find to do to kill time as they waited for Natsuki's arrival. She looked Monika over. The club president was in her own world, and if Yuri listened hard enough, she could hear her muttering to herself. It sounded like she was trying out character voices. Sayori to her left had thankfully recovered from her fit a couple hours ago, and was back to her cheery self.
All were ready and raring to go...so where was Natsuki? Yuri chewed on that question for quite some time. She saw the enthusiasm in Natsuki's eyes, so she knew for a fact she hadn't ditched the club. Yuri figured that she perhaps had a prior engagement she may have forgotten about. Or perhaps something silly like somebody held her up to confess their love for her like in her mangas. Yuri smiled at the thought of that.
Sometimes she couldn't help but notice Natsuki's adoption of manga characteristics. Her feisty, lively temper, her pouting, her denial of feelings. She was a classic...Yuri struggled to remember the word. It ended with "dere" she remembered, but the beginning escaped her. She found that odd. With as much time as she spent in her own head, Yuri figured she had her thoughts locked down tighter than that. She valued her vocabulary above all. Without it, her poems would be significantly weaker.
She sighed. In fact, she spent too much time in her head, and not enough out of it. Here she was, surrounded by friends, yet she sat in silence pointlessly remembering words when she could be doing something. She could be striking up a funny conversation, sharing a personal anecdote, or perhaps making some suggestions for the game ahead of them. All of those would have been wonderful choices, Yuri realized. And yet she did nothing. How could it be so easy for the three of them to just speak their minds without worrying about sounding foolish? To Hell with it, Yuri thought, and parted her lips.
Just as Yuri cracked open the abandoned cavern that was her mouth, Natsuki busted through the door, huffing and puffing.
"Sorry! I got held up! People! I hate people." Natsuki said through heavy breaths. Yuri tightly shut her lips. Back into the shell she went.
"Good, you're here!" Monika exclaimed, finally snapping out of her trance. Natsuki trudged through the room and took her place across from Yuri, who couldn't help but notice she smelled slightly of sweat. Yuri had a sharp nose.
"Did you run here?" Yuri braved the social stigma of asking that question.
"Hell yeah I did! I didn't want to be later than I had to." Natsuki spun her hand in the air in a quick circular motion. "Come on, let's get moving. Where we at?" Natsuki sat her bag down and retrieved her binder and other supplies. The others did the same, readying their own sheets and writing utensils.
Monika cracked a big smile as she shut her own notebook and brought out a binder.
"Okay, everyone. Is everybody ready for their first session of Dungeons & Dragons?"
"I am excited!" Yuri piped up surprisingly quickly.
"Good to hear! Did everybody go over their sheets? Does everybody understand their-"
"Yeees! Let's go already!" Natsuki cut in, to the surprise of nobody. Monika nodded, taking the hint. She took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. It was show time.
A rustling resonated through the desolate forest. From between two trees as thick as a giant's femur, a small silhouette stomped its way through. A dwarf with fiery red hair that draped her shoulders like a blanket. Her simple clothing and adornments did little to hide the tight, dense muscles of her diminutive stature. Her countenance, nearly always set in a snarl, was a plain one, with the most notable features being the occasional scar that squiggled across her face like a rogue lightning bolt. From a distance, it would not be uncommon to mistake her for a male dwarf, but that was a problem among many dwarves. She wore no jewelry or accessories, unless one could call the mysterious tooth that dangled from her neck on a leather cord jewelry.
Natsu wandered through the thicket, kicking bushes and pushing low hanging branches aside. After one particularly irritating one hooked its way up her nostril, she let loose a low growl as she snatched the branch completely off the tree and sent it careening into the forest. She heard a low-pitched yelp immediately after. She shrugged it off, assuming it to be an animal of some sort, but a voice in the Common tongue proved otherwise.
"Hello? Is somebody there?" Natsu didn't reply, she merely attempted to sneak up on the figure.
The girls at the table all waited with bated breath as Natsuki shook the large die in her hand. With one flick of the wrist, they went crashing and careening across the face of the table, eventually coming to a stop with their selected number facing up.
"Aaaand that's a 2," Monika declared as Natsuki stared down at her first roll of the game with dismay. "Plus your modifiers, that's…a 3. Well…" Natsuki's eye twitched.
Natsu trudged through the bushes, crunching every leaf, twig, and even a pile of animal bones on the way. Needless to say the stranger was anything but surprised when she finally appeared through the bushes. The eye contact they made, followed by several seconds of strained silence was more than awkward for even an outlander barbarian.
"Sorry to sneak up on ya."
"You didn't."
A burst of laughter from Sayori held the game up for several minutes as the girl attempted to compose herself after that brief interaction. Natsuki could feel that familiar heat creeping up on her, as could Yuri. Neither of them had really ever done any kind of character acting, so the two of them were in the same boat. But Yuri's side seemed to be slightly better off as she cleared her throat and continued through.
"Hello, traveler, are you lost?" The half-elf before her asked. She was a woman bathed in a glimmering aura. Her pale skin all but sparkled in the sunlight, her midnight hair was intricately twisted into thick braids that hung over her shoulder, and her thin physique practically danced across the undergrowth of the forest, making next to no noise at all. Natsu was stunned. Stunned at the gaul of this half-elf to presume she was lost.
"Pft, I don't get lost. I discover," she replied in a thick, roaring voice that sounded like molasses poured through gravel. "For instance, I just discovered you. Why are you trespassing on the land I just discovered?" The half-elf threw a hand up to cover her mouth.
"I...I'm doing no such thing!"
"Oh, really? Well, then I assume you're here to pay homage then. Alright, go ahead. Whatever ya got'll be fine."
"Wh-What?"
"Gold, silver, jewels, anything shiny and valuable would be nice."
"Are you attempting to rob me?" This question was asked both in and out of game.
"That all depends on what ya got."
Monika was genuinely blown away by how this first encounter had gone. While it was chaotic without a doubt, Natsuki at least seemed to be having fun. The petite girl smirked as she watched Yuri become increasingly more flabbergasted by this conversation. Monika wasn't sure how fair it was using Yuri's real-life social anxiety against her character, but there wasn't much Monika could do besides break it up before Yuri's first character ended up penniless. She looked to Sayori for assistance. She gave a knowing nod. Monika nodded in return.
The bickering between the scruffy dwarf and the delicate half-elf was broken by the sound of wood beating on metal. A fairly standard sound for these parts: the sound of combat.
"We'll finish this deal later," Natsu said as she rushed past the half-elf.
"There is no deal!" she called out, tailing her. After a short sprint through the densely packed foliage, the duo came upon a clearing with two creatures: a tiefling, and a goblin. The goblin, only about a foot shorter than Natsu, was a disgusting thing. It had mucus dripping from its elongated nose, its finger and toenails, uncut and uncleaned, dug into the dirt with every step, what few yellowed and jagged teeth it had looked as if somebody had carved them out of sulfur, and what little bit of hair it had it kept in a loose top-knot that shook and swayed with every swing.
The creature it was swinging at was much easier on the eyes. A bright yellow tiefling with horns curled like a ram's on the side of her head. She had a mop of brown curls that bounced and shook with each step. Her eyes were large pools of caramel, with pupils so wide they nearly overshadowed her irises. Natsu rolled her eyes at meeting yet another beauty in the woods, but what struck her as odd about this one was that her smile remained bright, even in combat. Losing combat, she might add.
"Hey, you!" Natsu called out to the creature. It paused its attack momentarily to cock its head and glare at Natsu. Sunflower took this moment to step back, huffing and puffing, shortsword shaking in her hand. Laverna rushed to the tiefling's side as Natsu engaged with the goblin.
"Are you quite alright?" Her prim and proper tone cut through the air like a thrown dagger.
"Yeah, I'm good." There was a brief pause. "I mean...yes, I am quite alright." The tiefling gave her rescuers a sheepish smile as she sheathed her shortsword. "That guy's tough!" She pointed at the goblin whom Natsu was currently circling with. Laverna gave her a sideways glance.
"Surely you jest. 'tis but a solitary goblin." She chuckled haughtily, sounding not unlike a seagull. "We'll have this done in mere moments."
Natsu traced circles in the dirt as this goblin mirrored her. A quick step forward here, a fake-out there. Combat was all about the mind games. And she kinda knew how to play them. It was when the goblin found the nerve to blow a raspberry at Natsu did she finally rush forward. With her enormous sword in both hands, she reeled her entire body back, and with a force powerful enough to make the very air sing, she completely missed her target by a mile. The blade went soaring over his head, not even coming remotely close to hitting him.
"Gah! Seriously?" Natsu cried indignantly. Her blow had failed, and now it was the goblin's turn to swing at her.
The tiny creature leapt into the air, club raised with both hands in an attack that looked exactly like a rewind of Natsu's. Natsu watched in slow motion as this tiny creature enveloped her vision. The next thing she felt was a dull, disorienting pain as the goblin's club clocked her on the crown of the head. Natsu felt a wave of heat rising up from her stomach. Anger and humiliation, a potent combination that brewed Rage. Unfortunately, she would need a moment to gather that rage together.
In the meantime, Laverna finally chose this moment to step into the fray with her longbow. She had been quite smug watching the display Natsu had put on, and she felt it was her time to shine. As she notched an arrow, the same way she had a hundred times, she cut a sideways glance to Sunflower, smirked, then loosed the deadly projectile. And how deadly it could have been.
Had it not only grazed the goblin for minimal damage. If anything, the goblin seemed more irritated by her attack than fearful. Needless to say, it was not the intended effect. Lavern huffed, shaking a loose strand of hair from her vision. She turned to Sunflower.
"Don't you have any spells you can use?" Sunflower drew her lute from a case on her back and began fiddling with it.
"Uh...um…" It seemed as if the girl was taking a mental inventory of the abilities she had. Laverna grew rather impatient as she watched this goblin continue to mock her presence on the battlefield. "Uh, yeah, here's one!" And Laverna watched as this gentle tiefling began strumming on her instrument, singing a few notes of an equally gentle song. Just a snippet of this gorgeous song filled her with joy and relief. So much relief that it infuriated her.
"Ma'am...did you just heal me?"
"Yep! I sure did!" There was a moment of silence between the two, and a distant outburst from Natsu as she tangled with the surprisingly hardy goblin.
"I appreciate the sentiment...but I'm not hurt."
"Oh." Sunflower took a survey of the battlefield and realized her mistake quickly. "Ohhh." She coughed and kicked the dirt.
Meanwhile on the other end of the field, Natsu was readying herself for another attack. This time she planned to put her back into it. The dwarf gave a loud growl of fury, then raised the lengthy sword high above her head-which wasn't all that high, relatively speaking-and then brought it down in a straight arc onto the goblin's head. Well, that was the plan at least. To her credit, she landed a solid hit.
Instead of splitting this goblin in half like a ripe watermelon, instead Natsu brought the heavy blade down onto the creature's shoulder. The attack had definitely drawn blood, but frankly, it seemed like the weight of the blade did more damage then anything. Nonetheless, it was an improvement. The goblin wasted no time in retaliating.
He slid away from the blade, leaving a trail of blood behind him as he sidestepped Natsu and clubbed her once more, this time in the gut. She doubled over, the wind leaving her lungs with a kiss on the lips to remember it hit had definitely found home. Her rage found no end as she watched the goblin dance and weave his way behind her. She spun around to face him. Unfortunately, even her small frame was still enough to block Laverna's shot. Even more unfortunately, this was not enough to deter Laverna.
The arrow went sailing through the air, and it struck with absolute confidence and certainty. It struck the wrong target. Natsu lurched forward as an arrow slammed into the area right between her shoulder blades. She made sure to make time to turn and glare at the moronic half-elf who had shot it.
"If you didn't owe me before, you do now!" She bellowed. Laverna shuddered and muttered an apology across the battlefield.
The goblin inched closer and closer to the forest's edge. He planned on escaping, Laverna could see that. They didn't have much time left. They had to end this quickly. She looked to Sunflower once more.
"Don't you have any spells that can deal damage?" She asked, heaving a puff of exasperation.
"Uh...hm...oh yeah!" A light bulb appeared over the tiefling's head. "I've got one!"
"Then use it!" Sunflower planted her feet steadily. She straightened her back, and with one deep breath, she called out.
"Thunderwave!" She ripped a powerful note on her lute that sent out a visible shockwave. The trees and bushes shook and rippled, pebbles leapt into the air, puddles danced and exploded as this shockwave made its way past like an angry giant. And unfortunately, both the goblin and Natsu were in its path.
First this blast shook Natsu. She dropped her weapon, putting both hands up defensively, as if she were shadow boxing some invisible opponent. She stood her ground, but definitely not without issue as this terrible shockwave rocked her entire body. The goblin on the other hand by no means was able to boast the same constitution. The sheer force of the blast sent his tiny body flying into the underbrush, rolling and tumbling for some time before coming to a stop in the foliage. Whether he was dead or unconscious none could tell, and most did not care. Sunflower took this as a victory either way.
Laverna sighed.
"Finally. That's over." Sunflower made her merry way over to Natsu, who was still standing in the same defensive position she had been, unmoving and unwavering.
"Oh, sorry about that!" She laughed. "I guess I forgot how that spell worked, huh? You did great though!" She slapped Natsu on her firm, muscular, incredibly tense shoulder. She got no response from the barbarian. Like a statue with a loose base, as Sunflower slapped her, Natsu slowly tipped forward, then collapsed on the ground, much to the surprise and terror of both conscious party members.
"And Natsu is now unconscious," Monika declared matter-of-factly. "If somebody doesn't stabilize her, she'll need to start making death saving throws." Sayori shrunk in her chair under the silent glare of Natsuki. No words. No outburst, just a disappointed, annoyed glare that could have started a bonfire. Yuri could feel the heat of that glare on her as well, but she pretended not to notice.
"I think it would be in our best interest to heal this woman," Laverna commented, now standing over the unconscious body of the barbarian.
"Right! Right! Uh, it's times like these that we have healing word and healing touch!" Sunflower kneeled in the cool dirt to place both her hands on the tense back of the downed Natsu.
"Well, what is the healing word?" Sunflower took a deep breath, and a radiant yellow glow began to form around her delicate fingertips and pearly teeth.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she cried hysterically. With each frantic syllable, Natsu seemed to stir more and more until she was finally able to turn her head in the dirt to face both her attacker and rescuer.
"Shhhhhhut up." Natsu weakley put a hand to Sunflower's lips. The tiefling nodded.
After a few minutes of receiving some tender-and magical-love and care, Natsu was back on her feet, and back at it with her loud mouth.
"Okay, so today I learned to never help people. That's useful," Natsu complained quite openly to the sheepish girls.
"At least you were resistant to it?" Laverna replied in no more than a whisper.
"I'm sure not resistant to thunderwave!" She locked her eyes on the tiefling, who was all but a few seconds from launching into another apology.
"Let's forget about all that. Let's start with introductions. Hello, my name is Laverna Nightingale, I am a proud half-elf, my mother was quite a powerful-"
"I'm Sunflower!"
"Wasn't finished."
"Natsu. It's not been a pleasure meeting you." The dwarf turned her back to the two.
"Wait, where ya headed?" The tiefling swiftly circled around to block Natsu's path.
"Not here." Sunflower blocked her with each step.
"Well, why don't we travel together? Doesn't that sound like fun?" The glare she received was all the answer she needed.
"She brings up quite the good point. These roads are dangerous, as we have seen." She spared a hateful glance at the bushes that were now the resting place of the goblin. " 'Tis only to get more dangerous from here, surely it would be safer to stick together." Natsu sighed.
"If you two are volunteering to be shields, then fine by me. But we're goin' wherever I say, got it?" Laverna cocked an eyebrow and a hip while she was at it.
"Oh, yes?"
"Yeah."
"Then where are we going?" Natsu's jaw snapped shut. Suddenly everything was a lot more interesting to her than this conversation. The dirt, the sky, the entire area around Laverna's head, all of it was pretty tempting to look at. "We're...going to…wherever is smartest, duh."
"Ah, I see." She smirked. "And that would definitely be the closest town, correct? Where we may resupply and find shelter?"
"Why are you wasting time stating the obvious? Let's go." Natsu stepped forward and pushed through the wall of green with an overextended huff. About ten seconds passed before she returned.
"Wrong wa-"
"Yeah, I know, wrong way."
Monika looked at the clock with shock. Two hours had already passed somehow. All they had done was meet and fight a goblin! How long could that have possibly taken? Needless to say, Monika was blown away with how little progress they had made. A short glance at her notes only had her checking off the first two bullets of her baker's dozen long list.
While she herself felt quite frustrated, she noticed the girls were having fun without a care for progress or time. They were making in-character conversation, which involved a lot of Natsuki insulting Yuri, and Yuri replying with snide comments while Sayori tried to delegate. It wasn't very different from their usual back-and-forth, but this time, there was no real anger or discomfort in their talks. Each insult came with a suppressed smile, and each eye roll was followed by a chuckle. They were getting along for once. It was nearly too much for Monika to bear. Could this actually be the success she had hoped for? Had she finally broken through that wall? She didn't want to get ahead of herself, but Sayori seemed to be having the same thoughts as she made eye contact with Monika, then the duo shared a warm smile. What a time to be club president.