Noire blinked her eyes open as yet another Disney movie scene opened up in front of her. "Oh good, more of this." She could hear and feel the wind, despite not physically being part of the scene and as she glanced down, she noticed a familiar rock formation. "Preeetty sure that's Pride Rock." A blue hornbill flew through her, causing her to startle at the odd sensation. "Yep, looks like it's The Lion King this time." Sure enough, the figures of Mufasa, Sarabi, and Rafiki appeared at the edge of the outcropping as the hornbill, Zazu, landed next to them. Rafiki held baby Simba aloft to the cheers of the animals below as the scene faded away.
"The circle of life does indeed move us all," Noire commented. "It's a good song, but I always did like Be Prepared more…"
"Boooom! Crasssshhh!" Grim's voice pulled Noire fully back to consciousness. She sat up in her bed at Ramshackle to get her bearings before looking down at the cat monster sprawled out with his head resting on her leg, still dead to the world. She quirked an eyebrow. 'Was that supposed to be some kind of roar?'
Grim's sleeptalking continued as Noire got herself ready for the day. "Nyahaha! How's it feel to be crushed by the Great Grim~?"
"Good to know he's still a pain even in his dreams," Noire said. " Yes he is " Hook replied though Noire couldn't keep the fond smile off her face as Hook gently poked Grim's forehead. "Wake up, ya goof."
"Nyahaha~! Take that, ya teapot tyrant!" Grim's blue eyes blinked open. "Wha…? Where am I? Back at Ramshackle?" He pouted. "Maaan, I was dreamin' I knocked Riddle out, made him my underling, and became the greatest mage ever…"
"All the more reason to keep working hard in our classes, bud," Noire told him as she finished combing her hair, taking care not to damage her curls.
"Yeah, you're right!" Grim agreed. "Let's get goin! We're one step closer to makin' me the greatest mage ever!"
After breakfast and a quick stop to the infirmary where Noire was officially declared back to full health, she, Hook and Grim met up with Ace and Deuce in their homeroom. "So? How'd everything go with the nurse?" Deuce asked after Noire finished nearly strangling him and Ace with a hug as thanks for the kitchenware they'd gifted her.
"I am pleased to report that my bruised rib is officially a thing of the past," Noire announced happily. "I am now free and clear to get hurt again."
"Noire, no!" Deuce scolded.
"Noire, yes!" Noire countered.
Ace snickered. "Make sure to let me know before you pull a stunt, okay? I wanna make sure to get it on film so we can play it at your funeral."
Professor Crewel walked into the classroom before the argument could go any further and the group settled in for morning classes to start. To Noire, it was a relief to be able to actually focus on the classes themselves without any drama to distract her. She could finally just treat this situation like a normal fancy boarding school experience…minus the magic and the talking cat monster…and the magical powers that she still had next to no knowledge about… Alright, so maybe it wasn't such a normal experience but nobody was going on a magical murderous rampage at the moment so Noire considered that a win.
Morning classes passed quickly and soon it was time for lunch. Grim stretched his paws up as the group walked into the cafeteria. "Trein's gotta be usin' some kinda sleeping spell. No matter how valiantly I fight to stay awake, I keep losing to the drowsiness."
"You fell asleep five minutes in. I'd hardly call that a valiant effort," Deuce pointed out.
"It's lunchtime~! What should I eat today~?" Ace sang as he pressed himself against Devon's back, his arms dangling over her shoulders. "Hmm?" He looked over at the crowd gathering at the buffet line. "Is it just me or does it seem more crowded than usual in here today?"
"That's because today is a one-a-month special day," one of the cafeteria ghost supplied, having overheard Ace's comment as they were passing by. "A popular bakery in town is here to promote at the school. They tend to sell out pretty quickly, though, so you'll want to get in line now if you want a chance at getting something."
As they drew closer to take a look at the menu the bakery had set up, they could comments from some of the other students in line.
"Three chocolate croissants for me!" one student ordered.
Grim's voice rang out from the front of the line as if to answer her. "Everybody, get outta my way! That deluxe pork cutlet sandwich is as good as mine!"
"Hey! No cutting the line, jerk!" protested one of the students at the front.
"You've got some nerve cutting in front of your upperclassmen, freshman," a second student snarled. "Get outta here!"
Deuce shook his head. "Grim gets some serious blinders on when it comes to food, doesn't he?"
Noire craned her head to get a better look at the students Grim had jumped in front of. She couldn't get a good look at their faces, but she was relieved to see that they both had black and red armbands. "Okay. I think those two guys at the front are in Heartslabyul, so hopefully that means I can deescalate this without a fight breaking out."
Ace quirked a brow. "And if you can't?"
Noire smirked and patted Hook's chest. "Then it's a good thing I brought my handy-dandy house warden with me." They made their way over to Grim as Ace and Deuce followed just in case they needed backup. Once they was close enough, Noire immediately scooped Grim up into her arms. "That's enough, Grim. You know better."
"But I'm wastin' away here, Noire! Have a heart!" Grim whined. He attempted to struggle out of Noire's grip but she kept a tight hold on him.
"I don't care how hungry you are, you can wait your turn in line like everyone else!" Noire scolded before sending the Heartslabyul upperclassmen an apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry about him, you guys."
The two boys brightened immediately, feeling their faces get hot. "Oh hey, Noire~" one of them greeted. "Didn't expect to run into you here."
"You didn't expect to see her in the cafeteria? At lunchtime?" Ace asked flatly with a thoroughly unamused expression.
"Ya know, the food this bakery puts out is really good," the second continued as if Ace hadn't said a word. He craned his neck to take a look at the line. "It'd be a real shame if you weren't able to try some, and by the looks of this line, they're gonna sell out of all the good stuff before you can snag any." He sent Noire what he hoped was a charming smile, sweeping his hair back with one hand. "Why don't you go ahead and get in front of us, Sweets? We wouldn't want you to miss out on this."
Noire blinked in confusion before plastering a smile back on her face. "That's very sweet of you, but that wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Besides," She nodded toward Grim, who was still struggling in her arms. "the last thing I wanna do is give Grim's bad behavior any sort of positive reinforcement; not everybody here's as chill as you guys. If we miss out, there's always next month."
"C'mon, we insist," the first boy pressed. He reached out to wrap an arm around Noire's shoulders, only to back off when he caught sight of Hook and Deuce's glare. "It's really not a big deal and besides, like you just said, there's always next month if any of these other guys miss out."
"Fgnyaha! See, Noire? It's fine!" Grim cheered as he finally wiggled out of Noire's grip. He looked at the spread in front of him. "I'll take that deluxe pork cutlet sandwich! And gimme some of that yakisoba bread and cream-filled bread too!"
"Seriously, Grim?" Deuce muttered, disappointed but not surprised.
"I'll have a roast beef and lettuce panini!" Ace ordered, stepping to the front of the line behind Grim. He smirked to himself when he noticed the upperclassmen's eyes twitch; apparently that offer to jump to the front was just meant for Noire. An unpleasant feeling began bubbling up in his chest the second those two started attempting to flirt with her, so he got more than a little smug satisfaction at getting some petty revenge on Noire's behalf.
"You don't get to cut the line either, Ace!" Deuce shouted.
Noire sighed before putting a hand on Deuce's shoulder. "There's no point in fighting with them anymore; they won't hear a word we say now." She turned to the two upperclassmen. "Thank you both for the offer and for being so cool about Grim's obnoxiousness. Again, I'm really sorry he troubled you."
"Think nothing of it, Noire," the first boy replied. "And if you ever need anything," His gaze trailed over her form, lingering on her legs just a little too long before he realized what he was doing and refocused on her face. "anything at all…you just let us know, okay?"
Noire fought back an eye twitch of her own as she kept her friendly expression in place. "Sure thing." Hook gave Deuce a knowing look, who nodded back.
"Hold up, Trappola," the first upperclassman said as he and his friend pulled Ace aside once the two had paid for their food. He checked to make sure Noire was too preoccupied with Grim, Hook and Deuce to notice before he continued. "Since we were nice enough to let you jump the line, mind if we as you a few questions?"
"Something tells me you'd ask no matter what I said," Ace replied dryly.
"Nice to know you're catchin' on to how things are done here," the second commented. "There's no point in beatin' around the bush: Noire's an absolute slice."
"Yeah, the whole 'chick from another world' thing is pretty hot," the first agreed. "We were wonderin' if she mentioned seein' anybody before she got here." He smirked. "I mean, even if she is, it's not like they can do anything, but it'd be helpful to know how…experienced she is, if ya know what I mean."
Ace felt his fist clench and subtly stuffed it in his pocket, the unpleasant feeling in his chest growing worse. He pulled in a breath as he struggled to keep his expression neutral. "First of all, even if that was any of your business, which it's not, Noire hasn't mentioned having a partner back in her world and I haven't asked. If you wanna know so badly, you can grow a pair and ask her yourselves. Second of all," His red eyes narrowed. "don't ever let me hear you refer to her as "an absolute slice" again. Got it?"
The first boy rolled his eyes. "C'mon man, loosen up. It was a compliment."
"If that's true, why didn't you call her that to her face during your pathetic attempt at flirting a second ago?" Ace countered. "Everybody loves to be complimented, right? So she probably would've loved it, wouldn't she?" He smirked as an idea popped into his head. "Actually, how about I call her over here right now and we can find out exactly what she thinks of that disgusting pet name, hmm?" He looked over in Noire's direction and opened his mouth. "Hey-"
One of the upperclassmen immediately clapped his hand over Ace's mouth, his voice a harsh whisper. "Dude, what are you doing?! Shut up!"
Ace pulled the upperclassman's hand off of his mouth. "Mmhmm. That's what I thought. You know that name's gross, I know it's gross, and we all know Noire'll kick your asses six ways from Sunday if she heard you call her that."
"Psh," the second upperclassman scoffed. "What, are you gonna tell on us or somethin'?"
Ace nodded. "Actually, yeah, I am. She has a right to know when creeps like you are skulkin' around." He sent them a wicked smirk. "But since you both were such nice guys, lettin' us cut the line and all, I'm gonna give you the chance to get outta here before I do." The pair of students glanced at each other, then over to Devon before sending Ace on last glare and scurrying off. Ace's smirk never wavered. "Yeah. That's what I thought." He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Noire approaching.
"Everything good?" she asked. "I saw those two guys from earlier leave in a hurry."
Ace shrugged. "Oh, ya know, just fieldin' a couple creeps trying to get some info on your dating life even though you're waaay outta their league."
Noire hummed in response. "I had a feeling. That one wasn't at all subtle about checkin' out my legs earlier. I'm well aware that I'm gorgeous but he could've at least attempted to use some tact. There're ways to simp after someone respectfully."
Ace nudged Devon playfully. "Nice to know you're not struggling in the self-esteem department,."
As the group set about finding a place to sit, Ruggie walked into the cafeteria. A small frown marred his features when he caught sight of the bakery menu. "Ah crap, looks like I missed the bakery day free-for-all. The deluxe pork cutlet sandwich Leona wanted is already sold out."
As if on cue, Noire walked by handing him a sandwhich.
Ruggie's frown turned into a smirk " Huh? The deluxe pork cutlet sandwhich."
the hyena eyed Noire suspiciously.
"Mission complete! Shishishishi~!" Ruggie said as he took the sandwich. "Thanks again. Bye-bye~!"
"You gave away a pork cullet sandwhich…," Grim cried as he watched Ruggie walk out of the cafeteria.
Grim was still moping even after the group found a place to sit and eat, lamenting the loss of his sandwich between shoveling food into his mouth. "This is…the worst day…of my…pathetic life…"
"Hey c'mon, Grim, don't say that," Hook replied. "It's the worst day of your pathetic life so far."
Grim sent him a glare, Noire smiled at her friends before looking back at the doorway to the cafeteria.
Ace's voice pulled Noire back to reality. "Getting back to what we were talking about before Grim started whining, those upperclassmen may have been sleezes, but now they've got me wonderin'. Do you have someone special waitin' for you back home?"
Nope shook her head. "Aside from my family…nope. Wasn't dating anybody nor did I have my eye on anyone back home."
Deuce blinked. "That's…a little surprising, if I'm being honest. I'd have figured someone a pretty as you would have people tripping over themselves to date you."
"I mean, clearly she does," Ace pointed out, referring to the upperclassmen from earlier and trying to figure out why he felt so relieved that Noire wasn't already in a relationship with someone in her homeworld.
"I still can't believe those two were so…gross," Deuce growled. "If I ever see them near you, Dev-"
"Easy there, tiger," Noire interjected. "Given how fast Ace was able to send those idiots packing, I doubt they'll try anything even if I do run into them again."
"It just pisses me off that you have to deal with crap like that," Deuce grumbled. "You're my best friend, ya know?"
Noire smiled. "I appreciate you lookin' out for me, Deuce. Really," Noire shrugged " Plus if they did try something, theyres always you guys and Riddle She and Ace shared a laugh before she nodded. "More or less, I guess. I've also got all the cheerleader stereotypes working against me, so there's that."
Deuce frowned. "It's not fair for people to make snap judgments about you just based on that."
"Preachin' to the choir, my dude," Noire replied. "I learned a long time ago that getting upset about it is a waste of energy, though. If someone's going to write me off for some arbitrary reason, especially if it's for something I have no control over, they aren't worth thinking about. The people that actually take the time to get to know me know what I'm really like."
"Be honest, though. You probably know someone who fits the stereotypes," Ace said. "Based on what your family told us, that Madison girl seems like she's pretty close."
Hook sighed. "Madison's… She can be… Okay, look, I'll admit she can be pretty catty and self-absorbed but I can't see her as a bad person. Besides, she's tame compared to my last captain. That was…" Hook shuddered. "…it was a lot."
Ace and Deuce shared a look. "Well now you gotta tell us," Ace pressed.
"Was she really harsh or something?" Deuce asked.
"Not exactly," Hook replied. "I mean, yeah, she could be pretty intense and she certainly wasn't the nicest person I've ever come across, but she was a good captain at first."
Ace quirked a brow. "At first?"
"She was jealous of this other girl and her crew."
"Damn…," Ace whispered. "That really sucks."
Noire nodded. "Sure does."
"That doesn't seem that bad," Deuce commented.
"Oh gets worse, my friend," Hook agreed. "She found this other girl was going to marry a future king. She did everything she could to break them up. She was obsessed with the crown and nothing else. It went on right up until prom night." Hook closed his eyes and shook his head again.
Ace nudged him. "C'mon, don't stop there."
"Once it became clear that she wasn't going to break them up become the queen, she apparently decided that if she took out everyone else who was running," Nope continued. "So that's exactly what she did."
"What'd she do? Fight 'em or somethin'?" Grim asked as he finally looked up from his food.
"Nope. She tried to murder them," Hook answered simply, causing Ace and Deuce to choke on their meals. "Well…most of them. I wasn't there, so I can't really give you details-"
"Good!" Ace choked out as he took a big gulp of water.
"-but from what I heard after the fact, even though the future king, the girl and her crew managed to escape, the captain still managed to killed six of their friends" Hook continued. "Again, I don't know all the details but it sounds like it got…pretty gruesome."
Ace, Deuce, Noire and Grim stared at Hook as he finished his story, trying to process what they'd just heard. "So…what happened after?" Deuce asked once he'd recovered enough to speak again.
"Last I heard, they had her in a padded cell but I hope she's getting the psychiatric help she'd clearly been needing for a while." Hook replied
"Damn… All that over not getting a boy someone else was dating?" Ace asked in disbelief.
"Leona! I'm back with your lunch!" Ruggie called out as he walked toward his dorm leader's preferred napping spot in the botanical garden.
There was a rustling in the plants as Leona sat up, letting out a yawn before blinking his green eyes open. "Hnh… It's already afternoon?"
Ruggie's ears twitched. "Have you been sleeping in here all morning? You're gonna fail another class if you keep this up."
Leona ignored him, opting to sniff the air instead. "Hmm. Smells like you actually got what I asked ya for this time."
"Uuugh, why do you always want the stuff that's most competitive?" Ruggie complained before handing over the sandwich and cup in his hands. "Anyway, here's your deluxe pork cutlet sandwich and iced tea."
"Don't you know anything? It's the fact that it's so hard to get that makes me want it so much," Leona replied as he took a bite.
Ruggie shrugged, his usual easy-going smile back on his face. "Me? I'll be happy to eat anything, so long as it's not moldy." His smile dropped and there was a hint of bitterness in his light blue eyes. "But I'm sure Prince Leona wouldn't know anything about that."
Leona's expression remained mostly apathetic but if one looked closely, they could see a trace of bitterness in his gaze as well. "Hmph. It ain't like I'm the crown prince or anything. I'm the second prince, so I couldn't be king even if I wanted to. I'm practically a commoner, really."
Ruggie gave him a flat look. "I showed you a picture of my house once and you asked me if it was a doghouse."
"I said that?" Leona asked as he looked disinterestedly at his food.
"Ya sure did!" Ruggie confirmed. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Maaan, I'd love to live in a castle so big it makes my actual home look like a doghouse."
"Hah. Being royalty isn't all that great," Leona countered, the bitterness more obvious in both his expression and tone. "All your efforts and skills don't mean a thing. Everything's decided by the order you were born in…"
Ruggie blinked. "Hmm…is that so?" His ears perked up when a thought occurred to him. "Ah, that's right. "There's gonna be a dorm head meeting after class today about the Spelldrive tournament. Make sure you don't miss it, okay?"
"Tsk…These meetings are such a pain," Leona grumbled as he pressed his fingertips to his forehead.
"You get the largest single room in Savanaclaw on account of bein' the dorm leader. You can at least make a token effort to actually earn it," Ruggie pointed out.
"Ugh, fine, fine. Just quit naggin' already," Leona conceded. He finished off the rest of his food and yawned. "And now I'm stuffed to the brim and sleepy." He settled back down into his napping spot. "Wake me up when lunch is over."
"I'm not your personal alarm clock, Leona. I've got my own-" Ruggie glanced over at the grumpy lion, only see him already snoozing away. "Are you kidding me?! How are you already asleep again?!" He sighed and shook his head before turning around and heading back toward the path leading out of the building. "I can't with that guy…" His ears twitched again as a thought struck him. "Oh yeah… Now that I think about it, I've seen that freshman girl , Hook boy and her pet raccoon at the cafeteria…"
