I feel like garbage, honestly, as I wake up. It wasn't a restful rest, and I'm not sure what's exactly happened. I do not appreciate whatever's happened, either. We were… cold. I'm not freezing now—actually, I'm looking right up at some… some…
"Is that a furry?" I can't help but ask because that looks like a man in some strange deer suit.
I'm out, again.
When I wake up again, I hear Riddle's voice. "No—No! Oh, good—you're awake…"
"Mmm… I feel like garbage…" I mumble. I really do. What was all of that? I saw a weird furry…
"I—I'm untying you, okay?" Riddle's hands work, and I'm out of the bonds in minutes.
I get up, shaking my sleeping limbs awake. Ow. Everything is awful and nothing is beautiful.
"...Thanks…" I have to flex a bit.
"You're a little offset the others… so the ghosts didn't notice you." Riddle remarks.
"Ghosts? What's going on, exactly…?" I do see people walking in a group toward what is probably the campsite. It's morning, at least—thankfully. So what… were we just hunted for sport and left lying around? That's disturbing.
"...I'm not… entirely sure yet." Riddle says, and we head back, catching up with Grim and the others.
"Did anyone else see the furry…?" I ask, but mostly to myself.
"What's a furry?" Grim asks.
Oh, yeah. Different world and all that. Maybe this world is blessed.
I shudder, at least I'm warming up but my body feels heavy and cold from everything. I'm shaking a bit too, and I have to sit by the fire for a little while until I get some feeling back in my bones. "What even happened…?"
Epel's at my side not long later. "No—are you okay?"
"I'm… yeah. I don't warm up fast."
He nods. "Okay, well… do you have any idea what happened?"
"I think we got kidnapped by a furry for some bullshit." I mumble, and have to stand and crack my back. Oh. THAT. That feels good.
Also I have reached bra max capacity of a couple days and I can feel my tits iache/i. I want to go back to Ramshackle.
Grim's here, and he pulls out the camera. "We need photos!"
"You're right, you're right…" And off I go for a bit of work before we get the stupid Headmaster back, and whatever.
At least the sunlight is warm.
A group of four tuckered out and some muddy arrive—Sebek, Floyd, Ruggie, and Jack.
"Oh! Look! They're back!" Grim calls out with a grin.
"Grim, Prefect! You're here—and so is everyone else…" Ruggie looks shocked, but so does the rest of the group. Huh. "So- everyone's okay!?"
Jamil shrugs. "When I woke up… I was tied up in the wood."
"As was I. I fell unconscious, and when I woke up I was tied up in the wood… and the ghost came to us recently and untied us… and some of us untied each-other." Riddle explains. But he looks as worn out as everyone else does.
"Ruggie… where were you? What happened?" Ah, sweet Epel. Or maybe it's just that his face looks so sweet.
"Honestly? I'm wrapping my head around it right now." His arms up, shrugging. But I guess he's taking this better than I am—and I'm a bit jealous of Ruggie's ability to do so.
"Now that you are all here!" As Coach Vargas approaches I see that he is wearing most of…
"COACH IS THE FURRY?!" Yeah I said that loudly and I get a lot of looks for once. No one seems to know what a furry is—I am cursed with knowledge.
"Anyway." Vargas, the furry, continues, "many of you look confused. The last mission just ended? And that mission was: survive! No matter the circumstance, you need to face unknowns and dangers with both brains and brawn! Your friends gone, your coach as well—and a strong foe appears! And I watched all of you students react to that scenario."
"W-wait." Ruggie starts.
"So Ace, Leona, and Deuce… all of that was Coach…?" Jamil questions, but his expression hasn't really changed. What weird shit has he seen in his life?
"Correct! Slackers were taken for supplementary lessons." Vargas, that's probably cruel and unusual punishment coming from you. I don't even wish that on Leona. "And those lessons were continuous squats under the supervision of ghosts at another cottage in the woods. They'll be back soon."
UH. I REALLY DON'T WISH THAT ON LEONA!
"So that little crab was slacking off after all." And creepy Floyd looks peeved.
Jamil, however, is just disappointed.
"Leona doesn't surprise me." Another disappointed person: Ruggie.
"Now, to announce the results of these missions for the clubs… YOU ALL PASSED!" Vargas bellows, startling the entire camp.
I hear a lot of relief.
"A member of each club survived until morning without being defeated by me—it's very impressive! I am impressed by your team work, Ruggie Bucchi, Floyd Leech, Sebek Zigvolt, and Jack Howl! It is because of their efforts no club will be disbanded this time!" They don't look pleased, Vargas. "The four of you, in time, could reach my level! Give them a hand!"
There is clapping and cheering. They do deserve it—but they still do not look pleased in the slightest.
"I guess we should be happy about this…" Ruggie is just a ball of confusion, I can't blame him either.
"So Grim, do you get why we got drug into that?" I ask.
"Nope! But it's good, right? They all passed!" Grim's pretty caught up in the spirit of it…
"Yeah, yeah."
"YEAH! WOO! WE DID IT!" There goes Ruggie.
Immediately, the others are grinning and cheering too. It's hard not to get swept up in the fevor, isn't it?
Well, at least all's well that ends well.
"Now then! Pack up the tents and return things where you put them—it's only a couple hours until the Headmaster arrives—so you need to be done and to meet where we started or there WILL be consequences!" Coach Vargas, aka, Coach Furry, heads off again.
There's some congratulations going around, and finally Grim pops up: "WAIT A SECOND! There was no need to tie up me, OR NO! That Vargas—I'm not letting THIS one go!"
Now he caught up. Good on him.
"You all did well." Now that I'm with the gaggle of the people I know, kinda, better than the rest. Or at least some of them.
"Hmph! My results are expected—I am NOT some human!" Oh boy we need to knock Sebek down a peg or two, don't we?
"Sebek… thank you. It was because of your work and efforts our club is not disbanded." Riddle is so cute and sincere sometimes. My. Heart.
"...Riddle… thank you for saving me." Sebek thanks him—surprisingly not shouting it either.
"Hah—I can't really tell if you're being blunt, or cheeky, honestly…" Riddle has that problem with other people too. Those other people being me. Named No Wei in Twisted Wonderland. It's a gift.
I catch that Silver's smiling, and for some reason that immediately sets Sebek off. "And why are you making THAT expression, Silver?! Do you have something to say?!" Oh boy, this guy has a hate boner for Silver or something. My gosh.
His face falls neutral again. "Not at all. I'm just glad everyone can understand your straight forward nature."
"Why should I care what you think?!" It's a little cute, too? I'm not sure what to make of this.
"Sebek. Thanks. I'll do your share of cleaning up—rest."
Why is that boy smirking. "I see… then, I'll leave it to you, Silver—clearly, you can at least take care of this much." I can't reach the back of Sebek's head to smack it but he deserves it.
Clean up starts, and I do get some nice pictures of it.
I catch sight of Leona and Ace returning—but where is Deuce? I snap a few pictures, and approach in concern because the other half of the brain cell duo is NOT with them, and that—where is Deuce then? Really, seeing Ace without Deuce is in and of itself weird anyway…
I'm really getting used to those two as a pair.
There's some words being exchanged, and I'm not even surprised that Ruggie and Leona are being themselves.
"...Causing trouble, as usual…" Leona remarks.
"Look who's talking…" I can't help myself.
But it looks like a debacle is solved until Floyd approaches Ace.
Uh. I feel doom.
"I know you were slacking off, Crabby." Floyd's voice sounds so sinister I want to die. "Do you want to get strangled?"
Ace looks appropriately frightened. "L-look! I'm sorry! A-and Coach made us squat until our thighs died! F-forgive me th-this once?!"
Please tell me I am never going to get into any shenanigans with this guy because I MAY actually die.
"Eh, eh, we'll see after I talk to sea snake~" And how cheery this guy is about that. God Almighty Floyd Leech is terrifying.
"I learned my lesson.." Ace sighs.
"Serves you right! And you should be nicer to me, too!" Grim declares.
"AHEM!" Jack interrupts the tearful reunion for an important announcement.
"Why are you shouting?" Ruggie asks.
"...Deja vu…?" Floyd looks now… like a confused puppy. This guy just weirds me out no matter what he does. "It was last night…"
"...Right—Jack panicked and came to us because Deuce was missing—wait." Ruggie finally gets it. Good. We're actually getting somewhere! "—and he isn't here. He didn't return?"
"That's not good." I start. "We need to find him."
"Deuce… wasn't with us." Ace explains. "Besides, he's too about ifollowing the rules/i for that."
"Then where is he?" Jack asks, his concern is clear on his face. So much for that lone wolf persona, huh?
"No clue." Ace responds.
"Vargas told us that we were the only assholes that he caught being lazy." And he doesn't even seem ashamed, or like he learned a lesson. That's Leona Kingscholar for you! Honestly, he didn't gain anything from his Overblot but…
But I… remember everything… that I heard—and what I saw from that. I maybe, maybe I need to talk to him or something, but at the same time is it going to help anything?
Guy needs a therapist.
There's a lot of shock.
"Which means that Deuce went missing in the mines." Ruggie concludes. Now he's… concerned. Good.
"But… does that mean he hasn't had food or water for a whole day?!" Grim is freaking out about something appropriately. "I couldn't survive that!"
"We need to report this to Coach Vargas!" Jack proclaims.
"Eh… but… remember? Coach Vargas said if we don't meet him at the starting point… we'll lose our clubs." I understand Floyd's logic. But.
"But I doubt that matters when there's a missing student, Floyd—I think that'd take priority to a iteacher responsible for our well being/i over this whole contest." Or whatever it is.
"If we tell Vargas first, we'll be late." Floyd ignores me. Wow.
I am surrounded by dumb boys because so many are agreeing with him by nodding!
Except reasonable Jack! "That's not important right now!"
"—so!" Floyd ignores Jack too. I'm glad it's not just me for once. "Let's go look now. The mines, right? He's probably there."
I.
I mean.
That's nice that he's considerate enough to go look for Deuce but at the same time he's being an idiot dude!
"We should go to the Coach-" I try. I really do try. But I live in a reality where for some reason my voice is on a frequency that isn't understood in times of important matters! I think my voice runs on anime logic of ithe plot/i. I could be worng about that, but considering the totality of the circumstances I don't think I'm wrong about this current running theory.
"Floyd… are you getting some sick enjoyment out of this?" Ruggie questions.
I don't fucking doubt it.
But, really, Deuce is way more important than getting Floyd Leech to see a specialist—at least at the moment. Like Grim said: he's probably gone a day without food or water.
"Yep! So what? Let's go." Floyd is so fucked in the head. I'm assuming his twin is too.
I don't want to be in a room alone with both of them, ever.
"Let's go find that chicken." Ace, you sadistic fuck. "C'mon, you have to come too, No. Besides, if I stay here—Deuce will call ime/i the chicken."
"I'm going—then he'll owe me one!" Grim, these are the wrong reasons.
"Stop being a bad influence on Grim, Ace." I huff.
Those two are going to be the death of me or something…
"He's a member of my club—of course I'm going." Jack, no shit. He's part of the pack~
"I'll go." Sebek offers. "I'd disgrace Lord Malleus if I abandoned a schoolmate." I… really? I need to work on him, I really do. Him, and Grim, and Ace.
Out of the freshman few, I think half of them need some serious help.
Well… it's not an entirely bad thing, I guess.
"Sharksucker, Sea Lion~ What about you two?" Floyd has that smile again…
"No." Leona replies.
"No way." Ruggie echoes.
These two…
"No's right. We need to tell Coach Vargas." Okay, the fact that Ruggie Bucchi agrees with me is something I didn't expect. And he LISTENS. A MIRACLE! Is it the beastman thing? Big ears, can hear No talk? I dunno.
"I am only going to say this once." Sebek starts. "Lilia taught me much of survival, and the most basic is this: humans can survive three weeks without food, and three days without water." WHY is that the basic knowledge? This worries me immensely, and I am starting to get a feeling that the small vice housewarden of Diasomnia is a small sadist. "The mines are far away; exhaustion shortens that time span. I doubt Deuce, without proper training, will survive for long on his own. We must hurry."
Ugh, the problem is that he's completely right. Deuce is a city boy. Cities boys don't last long in the wild.
"Are we serious?" Ace, as a city boy, you literally have no way to refute that.
Ruggie hems and haws a little. "We've got two hours. This isn't something that will benefit me—so we should get Vargas."
"—and it looks bad to employers if you could've done something and let a schoolmate die…" I know Ruggie's all about making money.
He gives me a look.
"And the mines are full of magistones." Jack cuts in.
I need to give that wolf a high five.
"Yeah…" Ruggie narrows his eyes at us.
"I didn't mention it before, but where Deuce went has a lot of large Magistones. It's where they had gone to replace the one for the chandelier." JACK. WHY MUST YOU BRING UP OUR SIN?
I see Ace flinch too.
I see Ruggie's ears twitch. Is that a sign of happiness or greed? "Let's go already."
"Money's the only thing that motivates him… he's not worthy of admiration." Sebek seems disappointed in people. That's life my dude. Look at our Headmaster and Coach Furry.
"Have fun." Leona gives us a wave, and he's clearly about to walk off.
"Oh? You're not going?" Ruggie questions.
"Fuck no."
"Mhm… then… I leave you in charge! Please make sure the Spelldrive students clean up—you might have to show them yourself." Ruggie plays absolutely dirty. I can respect that.
"We should hurry up." Leona changes his tune pretty fast, too.
"I was about to say, you know, almost seemed like the big lion was scared…" I point out as I take a few steps toward the mine—you know, get out of striking range or whatever. Grim's already following.
"Herbivores should be thankful for my help." I hear that arrogant bullshit Leona's sputtering.
"PUH-LEASE! You just don't want to help clean!" Ace calls out.
"Let's go and find mackerel! It's wayyy more fun!" No matter what Floyd Leech says, I'm bothered.
"Let's hurry!" I've already taken off to escape some of the consequences of my own actions. I hear the footsteps of others following behind me.
"Do you think he's okay…?" Grim asks, when he catches up.
"Hopefully." I remark. I am worried. "I think—his punk instincts will probably keep him safe."
"Like your bunny instincts keep you safe?" And that is definitely a Leona walked right up to my side. UM. NO THANK YOU!
"Is that what it is?" I ask, fine, I'm being cheeky. "I thought it was because I've got such a great bestie~!"
"—that's another for No." I catch Ruggie saying.
Well, that definitely gets Leona's attention off of me!
We do arrive at the mine sooner rather than later, before something of a fight broke out with this gaggle of clashing personalities. That's all of Night Raven College, though—but now I think I understand a little more why Headmaster Crying Crow had such a fit to see people getting along. When he hears about the four of them and their team work to try and defeat Coach Vargas—I don't want to picture the wailing, but because it's burned so deep into my brain I could have some debilitating mind-degenerating disease and still be able to recall that experience. Intimately.
That's absolutely horrifying.
The walk through the mines? Not the terrifying experience it first was, at least. I am thankful for that—even if Grim doesn't leave being almost attached to my side the entire time. He's a lot more sensitive than he acts—like a little kid. It's pretty cute sometimes, or it's endlessly frustrating. I live bouncing between these feelings.
It's to the far back we go, and Jack kneels by the still-discarded pickax. "...This is where we left off… at the edge of the range Vargas planned… I didn't think Deuce would be further in the mines, because this was left behind. We should go further in."
"We've been here before… This is where we found the monster…" Ace shudders—he looks appropriately freaked out, too.
Leona's voice calls from a bit further ahead. "Over here—found something."
Of course, the group immediately gathers.
Ruggie sounds a little eager, "A large magistone?!"
"No—over there." He gestures further in.
Lo and behold it's a cauldron. Which causes Sebek to exclaim. Loudly. "Why is there a cauldron here of all places?!"
Oh, yeah, if there's anything left in these mines, it definitely knows we're here now. I need a magic remote for the volume in Sebek's voice. I'll ask if that's possible later.
Wait.
WAIT.
A CAULDRON!
"Sebek…?" A small voice asks. DEUCE! Oh GOD. He… why is… he in…
That feeling one gets when something bad is about to happen. That. I've got that.
"Ah! Sebek—and… so many others…" He looks shocked and surprised to see the small search party that came to get him. "Grim, No…? You're here?"
"You took the question right out of imy/i mouth." Jack's got his arms crossed and he's trying to look sour about it, but I can tell he's relieved. "We came here looking for you."
"You're not hurt at all?! Why are you even here?!" Grim is so upset right now. I think he was really worried about Deuce. That's so sweet… he's probably going to ruin this feeling of pride in him in about five seconds, so I'm going to hold onto it as long as I can.
"So we were worried for nothing? All you were doing was chilling out in a cauldron this entire time? This is some bullshit, Deuce." Ace scolds, but…
My woman's intuition hasn't been wrong yet. We are definitely royally fucked. That's how these things work at Night Raven College.
"I think we're about to fuck around and find out, guys." But does anyone hear me? No.
My life.
"Shh! Shh!" Suddenly, Deuce panics and shushes us.
There's a chorus of confusion, but now we're getting to where No Wei is once more right about everything.
"HOW DARE YOU!? AFTER I CAME HERE TO SAVE YOU? INSOLENCE!" Sebek by God.
"S-shh! S-sebek! Please!" Deuce shushes, he looks pretty close to terrified.
Oh no.
There's a strange sound further down the tunnels of the mine shaft.
"I-it's coming!" Deuce looks absolutely horrified. Oh…
Fuck.
I know something horrible is coming.
"Something's coming?!"
"iMine…/i."
It's… familiar.
The sensations tarting to crawl across my skin. The inkling of things clawing at my mind.
iYou can't take it from me./i
Not again. Oh God, not again.
But it's…?
"What-?"
"Oh no!"
"It—it can't be!"
"Stone… Magistone… Mine…" It appears again—but it's not the same. I can hear it in its voice. I can hear it in the voice that's clawing in my mind again. It's different. The large jar—this one is cracked as it leaks ink everywhere. Its shirt, tunic, it's green—a deep green, it's not red. The creature still holds a lantern, a weapon—it comes—it comes—and!
iI will not… surrender…/i
Tears well up in my eyes. Fear grips my heart.
"That's… ...ink… and…" Jack's stammering out. "—it's the monster Deuce described!"
"No—no—it's-it's another one." I know my voice is trembling in fear as I step back.
I know my theory's right. This… is what happens when the person that Overblot dies. This is what's left behind. Looking at it—with the voice, with—with the appearance. It all makes sense. This is what Crowley feared would happen to Riddle and Leona.
"This wasn't here before—did we summon it somehow?" Jack asks a question that doesn't matter right now.
"We need to go!" I urge.
"We have to fight it!" Deuce declares. "It's blocking the exit!"
Fuck.
"Ugh—again?" Ace.
"Oh, looks like we've got a fight on our hands." Why does Leona sound happy about this? "Good. I needed something to blow off some steam after dealing with Vargas."
iThey tried to take it all away./i
Floyd has such a terrifying look on his face. "How fun! Now I don't have to throw sharksucker around!"
Wait, which one is sharksucker?
"Are you kidding me? This—it was so powerful. We barely survived last time!" Ace… actually.
Leona's powerful. I'm pretty sure scary guy Floyd is too. I know Sebek possesses some strength…
Actually. Actually—I think we can actually win this. "W-wait. Wait. If we fight together we can take care of this—we've managed two Overblots already with team work." I'm giving a good look to Leona. "I—I think I have a plan."
"This will be easy… but sure, bun bun, show me if Rosehearts has a good reason to keep you around." Leona laughs.
"—I'm about tapped… I've used magic without a magistone or my pen." Deuce laments.
The creature is looking around, if it can see. Our voices echoing has temporarily confused it at least. We need to wrap this conversation up and fight.
If… we only have a couple blows—I think I have a plan.
But there's magistones—wait.
"Ruggie." Leona looks over at the guy that really is his second in command.
"Yeah…?"
"How about you raise your arms and jump?"
"...Leona… what are you talking about…? At a time like this…?" Ruggie… hm.
Oh.
"Do it." Oh my God Leona knows this guy too well.
He … Yeah, there's magistones falling out of his pockets.
"MAGISTONES?"
"YOU FUCK!"
Hah. God. I'm not even surprised but right now I'm so thankful for Ruggie's sticky fingers. We can use these to fight.
"Even in a dire situation such as this you were still keeping the magistones away from us?!" Sebek is actually in the right to shout at him.
"And it's bigger than the ones we got for Vargas." Jack remarks.
"My magistones…" Ruggie laments. "Why Leona?! Why would you take this away from me?" Really? We could die.
"Greedy sharksucker…" Floyd, who of all people probably has no right to admonish anyone—does so anyway! "You kinda match Azul… but now we've gone stones—we can use as much magic as we want on the monster!" Why is he so happy about this? Weido! "I really like camping!"
iWhere did they go…? Why are they all gone…?/i
Ah, I have to wipe some tears away.
"We need to hurry up, the bunny's crying." Leona points out. Fucking asshole.
As the team gathers magistones that Ruggie's dropped, and he does look absolutely depressed over this situation.
I realize Grim has had his collar the entire time.
Huh.
Does he not notice that yet?
Hm.
"The stones… stones…" The monster growls, as it starts to lumber toward us.
"We're kicking its ass!" Ruggie calls. "If there's any stones left, they're MINE! Got it?!"
Ruggie Bucchi: Mr. Greedy.
"STONES! ALL!"
I see a flash of a vision; it's so blurry and distorted. Mining… they're mining…
i"I found a stone."/i
i"It's mine!"/i
i"But I found it!"/i
i"I saw it first!"/i
Violence.
There's blood.
iIt hurts./i
"Throw the cauldron to distract it! Grim, use your flames to keep it from advancing! Ruggie, Leona, strike it from both sides! Floyd—above—Sebek-below!" I call out to the participating parties. "Jack, Deuce, Ace—follow up and throw what you can!" I'm more familiar with Deuce and Ace, and I know they can throw some decent magic and that beautiful cauldron.
"Oh~ So the herbivore CAN strategize!" Leona can't shut his fucking mouth, can he?
"Yeah—it's how your ass got kicked, Leona!" Ruggie calls out.
"Hah! All of you PALE in comparison to Lord Malleus!" Sebek… uh.
He just threw the cauldron Deuce hid in, at the creature.
Holy SHIT.
"Nya ha! TAKE THAT!" Grim blows another torrent of flame, with the strikes from the others, the monster stumbles back.
iYou won't take it away again—I won't—I won't let YOU!/i
The monster swipes.
"RUGGIE! LEFT!" I shout.
He rolls easily, laughing. "As if that'd get me! Slow!"
"Stones—stones!" The monster rages.
"...Ah… if I lose, it won't be fun…" And Floyd lets out another devastating strike, knocking the creature into the mine wall.
The cavern groans.
"Ace, Deuce, Jack—Sebek! I need you to blow it back!" They should all know wind magic, right?
The four knock it down with wind.
"If you guys can—ONE MORE STRIKE!"
"I'm tired of playing around~"
"Ah—I'm getting bored, anyway!"
"We need to get back, right?"
These guys… sometimes…
But…
The creature shatters in one whirlwind of magic.
iI just… wanted… /i
The voice is gone.
"That's done, right?" Ruggie asks.
"Guess so." Leona shrugs.
"Good! I'm wiped…" The magistone hoarder lets out a long, big sigh. "I'm so over that… let's go. Did we live?"
"Hah! How could I lose to such a thing?" That half-fae needs an ego check like Grim.
Floyd lets out a sigh. "That ended too soon…"
"I never want to see these mines again…" Deuce shakes his head. "I hid in the cauldron after I spotted the monster… I'm worn out…" He stumbles.
Ace and Jack catch him. "Hey! Woah, Deuce—c'mon!"
Jack frowns. "All this time…? You must be tired."
And Deuce's stomach lets out the loudest growl. It rivals Grim.
Grim lets out such a hearty laugh. "I knew he was going to be hungry!"
"I haven't eaten anything since yesterday!" Mr. Hungry complains.
"Lame. ...But at least you're okay." Ace, please.
"...All's well that ends well, at least…" Jack was definitely worried. I'm glad he looks so much better.
"Thanks for saving me. All of you." Oh, and it's so heartfelt too.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Deuce." I'd hug him but I still have tits despite appearances, and that's… hugging titties is VERY noticeable.
"Let's wrap this up. C'mon. Save the touchy-feely shit for later." Leona's actually right, despite, my distaste for it.
"AH! RIGHT! LET US BE OFF!" Sebek declares.
"Eh, Sharksucker? What's wrong? Aw—do you want to stay too?" Floyd cannot read a room.
"...Yeah… NOT WITHOUT ANY STONES! THIS IS BULLSHIT!" Ruggie, really? We could've died.
"And you need to give some of that food to the herbivore." Leona remarks.
"—we need to hurry back, Ruggie—if we don't, there's no reward." Jack reminds.
"Ah shit—I forgot about that." He shakes his head, and gives Leona a look. "What… food?"
"Give it." Leona has no time for this.
Ruggie scowls, fishing out a granola bar out of a pocket and hands it over to Deuce.
"R-really?" He's so shocked at the sophomore's kindness. Coerced as it is.
"Yeah, yeah… whatever." Oh, how he gives a look.
"I'm not dealing with Rosehearts bitching we let his freshman starve." Leona continues, leading the way out of here. "Hurry up."
Oh man, does the hyena pout, because Leona gives him a look before he continues complaining.
We're all heading out, too.
"Rather club disband versus losing money…" Ruggie grumbles.
"How selfish! How can anyone STAND this?!" Sebek mumbles, as he exits.
At least we're heading out now, and I can't help a stumble myself.
I feel that I'm getting lifted up and set back on my feet. "Ah?!"
"—Shrimpy, do we have to carry you?" Floyd asks.
"N-no!" AH. FUCK. HE'S HUGE!
"—oh shit there's-!" Ruggie's about to dart.
I am absolutely terrified of Floyd at how fast he moves to snag Ruggie. "What I want, Sharksucker, is to get iout of here/i, got it?"
"...Understood…" Ah, Mr. Greedy lets out the deepest sigh, and we make our way fully out of the mine shaft and into the light of day again.
I am REALLY thankful for this hat.
"Hey… you got any more food?" Grim asks Ruggie. Shameless.
We do hustle, at least, despite it's clear as day that some of us are fighting exhaustion. I am—but emotional exhaustion versus physical. The strange scene plays in my mind, enough, that I'm not really catching the conversation between everyone. I should pay more attention—but honestly I—I'm not really understanding this ability.
I'd really like it to stop, because it sucks. I feel so emotionally drained and I can't forget any of it either. I also haven't talked to Riddle or Leona yet—and I'm definitely not talking to the latter.
How do I approach Riddle, though? I need to. Soon.
Soon enough, everyone and the Headmaster and his obnoxiousness is in sight. A burst of speed, with Ruggie calling out: "WE MADE IT!"
"Oh! Good! You've arrived just in time!" Crowley is, unsurprisingly, pleased—because this means less work for him.
"Where have you been?!" Vargas, on the other hand, demands.
"We—" Ruggie pauses for obvious dramatic effect. Is this something he's picked up as what I assume is a street rat? Or… something? "we found a monster!" DUN. DUN. DUNNNN!
I wish there was theme music outside of the bullshit in my head.
"Monster?" Vargas has his hands on his hips and it's clear he doesn't believe us. Not for a second.
"We looked for Deuce in the mine shaft as he was missing. And we were attacked by a horrible creature!"
"It was pretty strong! It even made us late!"
"Hm… late because you fought a monster…" Vargas hm… uh. "YOU THINK FOR A SECOND I'D BELIEVE THAT BULLSHIT?!" Asshole.
"Wow, a furry doesn't believe us—who'd've guessed?" Okay I need to shut my fucking mouth but can I? No. Americans are well known for that inability. It's inborn in me, obviously.
They look shocked too.
"You, trying to cover your slacking off with such a lie?! Unbelievable! What do you take me for? A fool?" He has his arms crossed with that whole disappointed-in-you-look down pat too.
"Didn't you just hunt us all for sport in a fursuit?" Yeah, Texan here: we don't shut up at the worst of times.
"Have you learned nothing?!" This is a grade-A scolding, too.
"Ashton, please, calm down. Real or fake, look at their faces: they clearly just experienced some life-threatening ordeal, and have grown closer because of that experience! Isn't that what we want, after all?" I—Headmaster Crowley is a weirdo. "Now I cannot wait for the next Camp Vargas, to see how it will help our students grow and learn with their time at Night Raven College! I am so kind for finding the budget for this, after all…"
"How impatient!" Vargas almost bellows. "Go back to your clubs, we're returning to campus!"
"Hey! Wait! You didn't listen to a word we said, Coach!" Ruggie, it's useless.
"Ruggie, it's no use. He's got muscles for brains, the isee it to believe it/i type. Don't bother." Leona might be onto something.
"Why…" Ruggie lets out a sigh.
"What a shit teacher…" GRIM. But he right though.
"Monsters… I guess it is hard to believe." Jack, why. "I didn't… at first."
Deuce looks down too. "And it happened twice…"
I feel pretty faint, actually…
But at least, it's not long later that the magic whisks us home—after the students get their phones and pens back. I'm actually glad not to need that stuff, because it means I got to go back sooner. I never thought I'd feel such deep relief being back at Night Raven College.
I look at Grim, as we're about to go back to what is… as close to home as it gets.
"Learn anything, Grim?" I ask.
"Yeah… Camp Vargas is ia drag./i" Grim replies with a scowl.
"We'll tell Headmaster Crowley no next time, I promise." I can't help but laugh all the way back to Ramshackle.
Home sweet home.