"Dude," a sharp whisper hissed in Automne's ear. "Dude, wake up." A rugged pale hand lightly patted him on the cheek causing Automne to let out a loud groan.
"Five more minutes, dad." Automne slurred as he rolled over in his bed.
"Do you think we should give him another few minutes?" A separate, softer, voice whispered
"I didn't get to sleep in, why does he get to sleep in?" Yet another voice attempted to whisper.
"Alright, then you go wake him up."
"Why me? I barely know him. Eve you do it."
"What?! Why me?"
"You're his friend,"
"But I only met him a couple days ago."
"For the love of Dust, somebody wake him up. They're going to stop serving breakfast soon."
'I don't even think these people know how to whisper. That or they really just don't care about waking me up.'
"Automne," Eve whispered as she lightly poked Automne in the shoulder with a single finger.
Automne let out a loud groan, "What,"
"Ty said you need to wake up so we can get ready for class."
Automne rubbed his face against his pillow and groaned a little more. "Well, go ahead and tell him I'll just meet up with you guys in a bit. I want to- Ahhhh" Automne cried out in shock, his eyes shot open in panic as Ty began to empty a large bottle of water onto his head. "Stop- Dude, stop!" Automne sputtered as he flailed his hands over his head in an attempt to knock the water bottle away.
"You ready to get up?" Ty asked with an amused smile as he tilted the bottle back, stopping the flow of cold water onto his face.
"Yeah, alright, fine I'm getting up! Jeez, was that really necessary?"Automne whined as he lifted his goggles off of his eyes and wiped his face on a portion of his sheets that weren't sopping wet.
"We did ask nicely. You should really be thanking me for letting all of you sleep in for an extra hour." Ty added with a tone that screamed 'My kindness is unappreciated' heavy in his voice as he screwed the cap back on the bottle.
"It's 6 o'clock man!" an irritated Automne screamed as he stared at his Scroll.
"Automne, Eve, Petunia if we're going to become great Huntsmen then we need to train as hard as we possibly can," Ty leapt up onto his bed, "And the best place to start improving is with the simple stuff. We need to wake up as a team and eat a healthy breakfast together!" He placed his hands on his hips nobly; a gallant smile spread across his lips. "Also I'm going to create a route for all of us to jog in the morning before class. While you were all still asleep I went for a run by myself and came up with a nice rigorous path that'll be sure to get your heart's pumping."
Petunia and Automne let out a simultaneous moan of disappointment.
'Had to be partnered with an insane person. Couldn't just be some girl with daddy issues or some hot chick, had to be this guy.'
"Now go get dressed Automne, we should be down at the Cafeteria for some breakfast in the next 10 minutes."
"What, no shower?"
"Why else do you think I poured water on you?"
Automne gave a tired sigh and crawled out of his bed. "Alright whatever, hey where's my suitcase?" Automne asked curiously as he walked over to a small mountain of orange and purple luggage. Automne tried to lift one and quickly realized they were heavier than they appeared to be.
"Hey, be careful with those." Petunia demanded as she sauntered over and took the suitcase out of Automne's hands with little effort.
"That thing weighs a ton, what do you got in there?"
"Oh, it's just some of my equipment." She stated with a proud smile as she placed it on Ty's bed, popped open the latches and opened the lid to reveal a computer server secured in foam.
Automne blinked a few times, not entirely sure what to make of this as he scanned over the bulky server and the six or seven other suitcases which he had to assume were carrying similar technology. "So, I'm assuming you're some kind of techie or something."
Petunia shrugged as she ran her hands over her server. "Eh, something like that."
Before Automne could ask for a bit of clarification as to what exactly that extremely vague reply meant he was hit in the face with a black and gold suit.
"Come on dude, we got to get out of here in less than 8 minutes. Get dressed." Ty ordered as he stared at his wrist watch.
"Hold on a second!" Eve cried out as she dived behind their makeshift curtain. "Okay, you may change now." The strange girl called out as her teammates stared at the curtain in bewilderment.
Automne shook his head a little and pulled off his wet shirt and tossed it on top of the sopping mess that was his bed. "Hey dude these things aren't itchy or anything, right?" he asked as he pulled his white button-up over his bare skin.
"They're a little warm I guess, but they're not that bad." Ty responded with a shrug as he pulled his sleeve back to look at his wristwatch.
"I expected them to be worse. The handbook said we're allowed to customize them a bit." Petunia added, giving a small tug to an orange bandanna she had wrapped around her bicep.
"The book said that?" Automne paused for a moment, "Do you think it would be an issue if I wore my goggles?"
"You'd probably be alright, but we'll be inside for most of the day so there's really no need to wear them." Ty held out his watch for Automne to see, "Five more minutes."
"Alright, alright, and yeah I know, but I'm not going to be wearing them inside, I'm not rude. I just like to have them around." Automne mumbled as he pulled on his jacket. "So we all ready to go?"
"We were waiting on you so yeah. Eve it's safe to come out now."
'I really didn't ask you to wait for me. You could have gone at any time.'
"Sorry for the wai-"Automne stopped as Eve came around the curtain, a pair of deep black stockings clinging tightly to her legs while her long black hair lightly swayed behind her. A broad smile grew across Automne's lips as he noticed a simply wonderful detail about Eve.
"Hey, Eve are you… are those surgical gloves?" Automne asked in amusement as he stared at a pair of white gloves, that looked like they had just been thoroughly sanitized, which crawled up her wrists and into her sleeves.
"What? No," Eve stared down at her gloves and quickly realized Automne was teasing her. Eve blushed a little and held her hands behind her, a look of discomfort quickly swept over her as she muttered the word, "Meanie."
Automne gave a sigh. "You really need to lighten up, Eve."
"Or maybe you need to be less of a jerk." Ty interjected as he walked past them and stepped out into the hall.
"Well… at least I don't put a bunch of gel in my hair." Automne called back, his own hair resembling nothing more than a bunch of wet, greasy dirty-blonde locks.
Petunia gave a sigh and followed the two bickering idiots into the hallway. "Guys chill out, all we need are a couple cups of coffee and we'll be golden."
"I hope they have waffles." Eve said with a small smile as she lightly closed the door.
The cafeteria was absolutely bustling as the students packed into lines and crowded whole sections of tables that first years had claimed for their own team. Kind of like how Team TAPE was jammed shoulder to shoulder (with the exception of Eve who needed her own "personal space") at a table in the center of the room, quietly enjoying their food… Well more or less enjoying their food.
"So… Eve… How- How're ya' liking those waffles?" Automne slurred as he pushed around some scrambled eggs.
"They're actually pretty good." She said with a smile before shoveling another fork of buttered up waffles into her mouth, a small trail of syrup left trailing down her chin.
Automne gave a heavy sigh and lifted some eggs into his mouth. "Fantastic," He said with a slightly bitter tone as he glared at the only milk the cafeteria workers let him have; a measly half pint of 2% milk. He lifted the carton up, turned it around in his hands a couple times and gave another heavy sigh, "ridiculous," he muttered before he took a sip.
"Well, it isn't all bad," Ty added as he swallowed a bit of ham.
"Speak for yourself," Petunia interrupted as she swirled a spoon through her cup of coffee. "They ran out of the vanilla creamer. Now I'm stuck with this hazelnut crap."
"Well, at least the view is nice." Ty added with a sly smile as he nodded his head to a group of girls sitting at the next table over.
"Huh not bad, not bad at allll~" Petunia trailed off as she stared at the girls with an aroused look in her eye.
'Pfft what a bunch of degenerate perv- Ooh that one's kinda hot.' Automne thought as one of the girls caught his eye.
"Hey dude," Ty gave him a nudge, "Pick one and we'll go over and ask 'em if they're free this weekend."
Automne choked suddenly on his eggs and tried to make it look like a horrible cough. 'Is he being serious?! He wants to actually talk to them? That's insane, my hair looks like a mess, and I didn't actually have a shower. I probably smell horrible, and I'm just not good at talking. I slur my words all the time. They're probably gonna think I'm weird… Well, I kind of am… But I can't let them know that. I need to get out of this!'
Automne cleared his throat, "Umm, no thanks, I think I'll pass this time."
"Come on dude, if you don't-"
Petunia suddenly stood up and placed a hand on both of their shoulders. "Boys, how about you sit this one out and let me show you how it's done?" The blue haired girl was practically radiating confidence and it actually made Automne feel like less of a man. With a couple of quick moves she hoisted herself over the table and casually sauntered over to the girls.
"So… that just happened." Automne mumbled in confirmation as he looked over at Ty who was still watching Petunia work her moves with interest. "Alright then," He mumbled to himself as he turned back to his food, but he couldn't help but notice something happening out of the corner of his eye. Eve had placed her elbow onto the table and was using it to prop up the side of her face as she pushed around a piece of waffle with her fork.
"Hey Eve, what's the matter."
Eve immediately tried to straighten up, "Oh, it's nothing."
There were a couple moments of silence between them as Automne watched her with doubtful eyes. Eve didn't raise her gaze to meet his though; she was more focused on pushing the piece of waffle through a small pool of melted butter and syrup.
"I don't think Petunia's doing very well." Ty said, suddenly breaking the silence while a look of discomfort simultaneously formed on Eve's face.
Automne's gaze softened a bit as he began to get to the source of the problem. "Ya' wanna talk about it?" He persisted.
With fantastic results,
Eve gave a small, somber sigh. "It's just… I feel a little," she folded her hands in her lap and gave another sigh. "Left out,"
Automne blinked a few times, reached over and patted Ty on the shoulder. "Dude," he muttered as Ty snickered to himself. "I think-"
"A simple no would've worked!" Petunia grumbled angrily as she rejoined the rest of her team.
"So, how'd it go?" Ty replied with a broad grin.
"She threw orange juice in my face! Who the hell throws orange juice?!" She growled as she furiously ran her sleeve over her eyes.
"Guys, seriously," Automne growled as he grabbed them by the shoulders and pulled them into a small huddle.
"Dude, what's up?" Petunia asked in a slightly agitated voice, her eyes horribly bloodshot and her face reeking of citrus.
"Shh," Automne quickly glanced over his shoulder to see Eve staring at them curiously. "It's Eve,"
"What about Eve?" Ty asked in concern as he glanced out at Eve.
"She said we're making her feel left out." Automne looked between the two of them and when he saw no visceral reactions he gave a small sigh. "Look, I was talking to her the other day and as far as I can tell we're the first real friends she's had. I don't want her to feel excluded."
The two looked between each other before Ty put a hand to his chin. "Alright, well what do you think we should do then?"
"I don't know; that's why we're in a huddle."
"How about a team bonding thing? You know, something we could all do together." Petunia inquired as she rubbed at her eyes.
"That sounds good, but I was looking over all of our schedules while you guys were asleep and she has a packed schedule. She has about seven classes and those don't include the required classes that we have together."
'Dust she wasn't kidding when she said she had no time for a social life.' Automne thought as he looked over his shoulder to see Eve was watching them patiently.
"Well, how about we do something this weekend,"
"That might work." Ty replied with a small smile.
Automne tapped his fingers against the table for a couple seconds, "And how about we let her decide where we go?"
Ty gave a shrug, "I don't see why not."
"Alrighty then, I guess I'll tell her." Automne concluded with a smile.
"Umm guys, I could hear everything you're saying." Eve chimed in a slightly guilty voice. "You're not very good at whispering, no offense."
Automne gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "None taken,"
The three of them quickly dispersed with a clear amount of embarrassment equally spread between them, like a fine butter over warm idiot toast. But they didn't let it get to them too much because Eve was now wearing a broad warm smile on her face and was swinging her legs back and forth gaily.
Eve lifted her thick glasses and lightly dabbed at her eyes. "Thank you," She whispered in her usual soft, tender voice. "And don't worry I'll be sure to decide on something completely amazing and fun for all of us."
"Eve," Automne called as he followed the dark haired girl down the streets of Vale. "Eve, come on. Come back,"
The hunched over girl was ignoring him though and was certainly making no effort to slow down. The worst part (at least in Automne's eyes) was that she was walking straight down the sidewalk forcing people to walk around her and warranting Automne to keep uttering apologies to everyone who she happened to inconvenience.
"Eve, please stop." Automne whined. The hapless teen gave a sigh and was promptly smacked on the back of the head. "Hey-"
"Dude, we told you to talk to her." Ty scolded Automne as he started to pass him.
Automne placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back to his pace. "She likes her personal space so I'm trying to let her calm down."
"Well, she would probably feel better if you would actually apologize to her." Petunia added with a furrowed brow as she joined the two of them, trailing behind Eve as a group.
"I don't need to apologize; I didn't do anything."
"You broke that thing in the jar and got us kicked out of the museum."
"The sign said I could look at the thing closely. It's not my fault that the jar was greasy. Besides I wasn't the one who said I 'hated' the museum right in front of her."
"I didn't know she was there. You said she was going to look at some tapeworm thing somewhere else."
"Well how was I supposed to-"
"Guys, that's enough," Ty hissed angrily as he stepped between the two of them and pulled them in close. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is that we fix what we started. Now let's- hey, where'd she go?"
Automne and Petunia looked up to see that their teammate was no longer miserably shuffling down the sidewalk in front of them.
"Aww crap, we lost her." Automne spun around a couple times in a panic. He gave a couple short whistles "Eve, where are you?"
"You jackass," Petunia yelled as she punched Automne in the stomach. "She's not a dog!"
"I know she's not a dog. I just thought she'd respond to whistling."
"Why would you think that?"
"Because I heard her whistling the other day in class," Automne replied stupidly as he rubbed at his stomach.
Petunia slapped a hand against her forehead, while Ty just pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
"Automne, as your leader, I'm ordering you for the next five minutes to just shut up. Now let's go and find her; she couldn't have gotten too far." Ty looked up and down the street a couple of times, "Alright, Petunia, I want you to make a right at the next turn and Automne and I will make a left. If you find her send a message to-"
"-Is that her over there?" Petunia interrupted flatly as she pointed to a small pub across the street with a couple of neon signs and a large blob of white and black in the grimy window.
Ty squinted hard, "It could be. Well, it wouldn't hurt to check." Ty looked up and down the street before jogging into the road, quickly followed by Automne and Petunia.
"I strongly disagree," Automne groaned pessimistically as he imagined everything from the bartender throwing them out into the street to the patrons of the bar beating them to a pulp.
"You're still under orders."
"Well, I've decided to not follow them." Automne replied with a grimace as they jumped onto the curb.
Ty gave an exacerbated sigh as he walked up to the pub's large green door and pulled it open by its bronze handle.
The thick scent of alcohol coupled with greasy food wafted past them as they stepped into a large dimly lit room. The pub was packed with thick wood tables and chairs coated with crumbs, covered with notches and splinters, layers of dust, and water stains. There was even a stage at the back of the room that could fit a band if it weren't occupied by a set of amplifiers and a karaoke machine.
"There she is." Ty said; relief heavy in his voice as he walked over to one of the only occupied tables and pulled up a chair next to the miserable looking girl who was too busy poking at some splintered wood to notice him.
Automne gave a sigh and hung back while Petunia joined the feel good brigade.
'This building, it feels so… cold.' Automne thought to himself as he looked over to the middle aged bartender, mindlessly cleaning a beer mug, and gave a sigh. Automne walked around the table where the rest of his team was sitting and pulled out a chair. He dropped into the chair and stared up at the quiet empty stage.
"I wonder what this place was like, back in its heyday." Automne was basically talking to himself, but the rest of his team was listening intently as he speculated about glory days that may have never even existed.
"Probably a lot of drunken people," Ty responded promptly, eliciting a few chuckles from Automne.
"It was probably really loud too." Petunia added.
Automne gave a heavy sigh as he looked around the room and imagined a bunch of drunken men and women packed into the pub drinking and singing at the top of their lungs. "Yeah, that sounds… horrible." He finished with a smirk. "Hey, Eve, why did you come in here?" he turned for the first time to face Eve who was dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief.
"I saw a sign in the window that said karaoke and my dad and I love karaoke so I figured maybe it would cheer me up." Eve said in a small voice as she tried to straighten herself up a bit.
"Huh," Automne looked back at the machine. "Did ya' try,"
Eve shook her head, "The bartender said I couldn't and he said I was too young to be in here so I need to leave."
Automne looked over at the Bartender who was giving them a venomous glare.
"Well, I guess we'll just need to ask him again. C'mon Ty,"
"Why do I need to be there?" Ty asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because nobody likes me, now come on. You're more persuasive anyway."
Ty gave a heavy sigh and followed Automne to the bar where the bartender was waiting with a look of agitation on his face.
Automne cleared his throat as they stepped up to the bar, "Uhm hello- hi, uh we were wondering if we could- well, if our friend could use your karaoke machine, please." Automne sputtered with a weak smile.
'I imagined that going much more smoothly.' Automne was already beginning to doubt the formation of his ridiculously stupid plan.
"Look kid, like I told your friend over there the karaoke machine is only for customers and I don't serve anyone under 18." The bartender calmly explained, "Now, if you don't mind, I need you and your friends to leave before I call the cops."
"Is there maybe something we could order off a menu- like some onion rings or something- We'll leave right after she's done." Automne nervously persisted until Ty put a hand on his shoulder.
"Dude it's no use, legally we're not even supposed to be in here. I think Eve will understand."
Automne gave a heavy sigh, "Alright, I'm sorry for the wasting your time sir."
"Hey hold on a minute, you look familiar." The bartender put a hand up to his round chin.
"Who, me?" Automne asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, not you, you." The bartender nodded his head at Ty. "Can't put my finger on it; I think I saw you in the paper recently." The bartender snapped his fingers as a grin crossed his face. "I remember you now, you're on the Vale Police Force! I read an article about you and a couple other guys stopping a local crime spree that happened a couple blocks over. Had your picture in the paper with the mayor; you boys are heroes." The bartender concluded with a wide smile.
"Thank you sir," Ty replied, while wearing an earnest smile.
"So, are these some of your friends from the force?"
"No, they're part of my team. I decided to become a Hunter and these are my fellow huntsmen."
"Woooow," The bartender said in awe as he nodded like a bobble head. "That's really admirable son." He glanced around between the members of team TAPE and scratched the side of his head. "Alright both of you c'me here for a second. Now listen, you seem like decent kids so I'll let you use the karaoke machine."
"Really," Automne started with a large grin.
"Epepep, you're only getting one song. After that you're outta here. And I don't want you telling any of your friends about this place or anything. It's already hard enough to get people coming in here. I don't need a bunch of teenagers in here, got it?" He pointed his finger at Ty and Automne.
"Of course, thank you sir! One song and then we'll be out of your hair." Automne said, positively brimming with joy as he turned around and made for the table where Petunia and Eve were still waiting.
"About time, what'd he say?" Petunia called as she tried to rock back in forth in her chair.
"I don't mean to brag, but my great negotiation skills-"
"The guy recognized me from the paper and said we could have one song. Automne almost got us arrested." Ty corrected as he slowly walked up behind Automne.
Automne cleared his throat, "-Yeah, well, the point is you can go up there and sing all you want Eve… Well, not all you want because you only get one song, but the point is you get a song."
Eve gave a huge gasp, quickly stood up, pushed her chair in and ran up through the maze of tables toward the stage.
"Well, she seems happy. Nice job guys." Petunia said with a smile as Eve pulled herself onto the stage.
"Eh, well somebody had to do something. Do you think she's any good?" Automne asked, watching Eve in the distance as she scrolled her finger across a list at the front.
"Well we'll see; I think she's starting."
Eve bounced onto the center of the stage and looked around the large almost empty room with a microphone held close to her chest. Speakers set throughout the pub began to lightly crackle before the first chords of the song started.
Automne, Petunia, and Ty were all watching with curiosity as soon as Eve's light breathing came over the speakers.
Eve opened her mouth and- not a sound.
Eve cleared her throat a bit, the music playing loudly throughout the room as the lyrics raced across a screen at the front.
"Uh oh," Automne uttered in surprise as Eve continued to glance around while mouthing the words to the song. Automne, Ty and Petunia all exchanged concerned glances before Automne quickly stood up. "I'm on it."
'Why doesn't anything ever go right? Is that too much to ask for?' Automne thought to himself as he bolted up towards the stage.
"Eve, what's wrong?" Automne asked in concern as soon as he looked up to the stage.
"My dad would usually start the song," Eve said in a terrified voice as she knelt down to explain. "And then I would harmonize with him. I've never actually done this alone before."
"Oh my Dust, well… alright, umm, alright I know I'll sing with you." Automne gripped onto the stage and hoisted himself up with an embarrassing amount of effort. Automne made his way onto the center stage next to Eve, cleared his throat, and gestured for Eve to pass the microphone. "Don't worry I got this." He whispered as she passed him the microphone."Baby you're a firework! Come on let your colors burst! Make 'em go ah ah- hey!" Automne bleated out like a dying goat before Petunia placed her hand over the microphone and shook her head.
"No dude," She said flatly as she pulled the microphone from his hands. "Let me,
"You don't have to feel like a waste of space." Petunia continued with some actual quality as Automne glared at her in disappointment while Eve rocked back and forth with a large smile. "You're original, can not be replaced. If you only knew what the future holds. After a hurricane comes a rainbow."
'Hmm she's not half-bad. A whole lot better than you, that's for sure.' "... Hey-"
"Mind if I cut in?" Ty called as he jogged up to the stage.
Petunia put her hand over the microphone. "Depends are you better than Automne."
"Of course," Ty said with a chuckle as he jumped onto the stage and joined in on the chorus.
Automne was about to give a sigh until he noticed Eve patiently waiting behind Petunia with a large smile. Automne slowly shuffled over, "You ready to sing the big finish?" Eve noticeably stiffened up as she realized the song was just about over. "Don't worry, if you don't have it we'll all jump in there at once. We got ya'." Automne concluded with a smirk and a thumb up.
Eve blinked a few times, she looked down at the floorboards nervously, and nodded her head, "I'm ready,"
Automne reached over Ty's shoulder and snatched the microphone out of his hand. "Thank you, now here you are Ms. Howlite." He said with a smirk as he placed the microphone in Eve's hands.
Eve cleared her throat once more.
Her voice started off quietly, but it very quickly gained volume and in the moments that followed Automne could swear he felt the world drift away. Eve's voice was a mixture of sweet melodic beauty that flowed through the room like rich warm cream and a simple yet pure reminder about the joys hidden away in their cruel world. As the music quickly drew to a close Automne knew one thing was certain that this simple pub had never heard such beautiful music before now and it may never hear something that beautiful ever again.
Eve took a breath as the song concluded and looked between her friends.
She gave a small giggle, "Well, this was fun."
Automne gave his friends a small smile, "Yes, yes it was… Now let's get out of here before the bartender calls the police."