Christmas break was on in earnest after the weekend. Luna Nova was a ghost town, much of the studentry returning home for Christmas, and most who didn't were on a day trip out to Blytonbury to watch movies at the Last Light Theater. It was Magnum Innomi... Inominan... Great Unnameable One Day, after all, and the day to celebrate art in all its forms.

In the empty student union by the eternal chair fire, a mighty union began to forge.

"Sucy Manbavaran," Wangari said, keeping an arm's length between them.

"Wangari, student of Luna Nova and Rhodes," Sucy said.

"We're both down a few bandmates."

"We are indeed."

"In spite of everything, I propose we pool our forces."

"An interesting proposition. Sucy Manbavaran and the Sucy Manbavaran Band versus...?"

"And. The Man-band-varan and Wooden Winter."

"Never say that name again and I say we do it."

"Deal."

Short bows substituted for a handshake.

Constanze set up her drum kit by the little tea kiosk and strapped her earphones on. She gave a thumbs up.

Joanna, Wangari's photographer, wearing a homemade t-shirt reading HELLO, MY NAME IS JOANNA, YOU'RE WELCOME, tuned her bass.

Kimberly, Wangari's stenographer, wearing a headband with "I'M KIMBERLY" written in Kanji across it, twisted her doomsday key in the IMMANENTIZE lock on her keyboard and thus armed it.

Wangari played a few low notes on her lead guitar. "Ready, Sooce?"

"The Sooce is loose," Sucy said, grabbing the mic stand. "Eins. Zwei. Eins, zwei, drei-" She snapped her fingers, and Wangari played the opening riff of "No Rain." Their cover subbed an acoustic guitar with Kimberly's keyboard synthing an acoustic guitar with an echoing, acid-rock flavor and Sucy's inappropriately intimate vocal stylings and intimations with the mic stand. If any criticism were to be had, Constanze ran away with a lengthy drum solo in the middle of the instrumental, but Wangari jumping over and engaging her in a duel to be the most heavily easygoing was a highlight.

"Oh, oh oh oh oh," Sucy purred into the mic, and their fifteen-minute-long No Rain came to a stop. Sucy bowed, Wangari tipped her visor, Constanze simply primed for the next song, and Joanna and Kimberly just tried to exist.

Their audience clapped. Their audience was a single, very tall, very thin man, in ragged yellow robes.

"Is that okay?" Joanna said. "Are we normal?"

"Normalcy exists only to break completely," Sucy said. "Just don't listen to him if he starts talking and maybe don't open any doors for a while."

"...did we bring snacks?" Kimberly said.

"Eh," Constanze said.

"The crossover continues," Sucy said. "Alrighty, Wan-Wan. Rock paper scissors. I win, we play 'Cirice.'"

"I win, it's 'King Kong Loves the Blonde One.'" Wangari said, holding out her fist.

One, two, three. Both threw paper.

"Alright, then," Sucy said, "'Brown Eyed Girl.'"

"The sad version by Everclear?"

"You know me so well." She reached to touch Wangari's face, only to get a gentle slap. "Alright. Then let's begin. This one starts all meta, you'll like that, faceless specter of madness!"

"Wow," Akko said, lying on the grass outside of the Last Light Theater. At least the grass had to be under the snow, by her estimation. "I can't believe they got away with that much on-screen sex in a 12-rated movie."

"It's artistic," Diana said, seated next to her. "Besides, it was inevitable from the minute Finn and Poe met."

They watched the arguments between the rest of their class erupt into full-blown gang warfare in front of the theater.

"In hindsight," Diana said, "maybe a movie less prone to bringing out salt would've been a better-"

The two witches rolled away as a flaming car smashed against the ground where they had laid and bounced away, rolling down the hill into a terribly inconvenient puddle of kerosene someone had thoughtlessly left behind.

"I think this is what Yellow Guy would want," Akko said.

"You're probably right."

Back in the theater, Finnelan and Badcock continued watching the ending credits while the LSD kept working through their systems.