Chapter Text
Author's Note: Hey there! Sorry this chapter took so long. I was in a really bad place when the previous chapter was released and couldn't find the motivation to finish this. But thanks to my incredible friends, and even moreso, everyone who left such kind comments on the previous chapter, I have finally reached a place where I can write again without feeling sick. Thank you all.
Now, this chapter...to be honest, not that proud of it, but it is what it is. If I kept desperately trying to perfect it, it would never be finished, so I apologize for coming back with such a lackluster chapter. Still, I hope you enjoy it!
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‘Greetings, fellow students!’
No, no, that felt awkward and stilted, he’d never make friends like that!
‘Oh, hey, didn’t see you guys there!’
No, not that one either. Too casual. How abou-
Ruben let out a loud “OOF” as he crashed into someone’s legs. He took a step back, looking up to see a tall, blond human in a letterman jacket. After a beat of silence, Ruben’s social anxiety took over and he shouted, “WHAT’S UP PARTY PEOPLE? I’M IN THE HIZZ-OUSE….nope, it was wrong as soon as I said it…”
The blond man looked at him with a confused expression. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as a brunette woman leaned over his shoulder to look at Ruben. As her hair fell forward, Ruben could see slightly pointed ears. Half-elf, maybe?
“Oh my gods! You’re so cute! That was so weird, it was adorable!” The woman walked around the man and kneeled down to be at Ruben’s level. “Hi, I’m Penelope Everpetal, she/her, senior Sorcerer, and this is my boyfriend, Dayne Blade, Paladin!”
“Oh! Hi, I’m Ruben Hopclap, he/him! I’m in the business of making friends! Could you help me find my first class? I’m a little lost, and you see, I’m a freshman Bar-”
“Bard? Yeah, I could tell by the ukelele! Well, I’m not going to remember your name at all, but you’re just so cute,” she interrupted, booping him on the nose before standing and looking past Ruben at someone her couldn’t see. “Zayn, sweetie, can you show this cutie to the Bard wing? I would, but you know, me and Dayne are a bit busy right now.”
Ruben turned to look at this mysterious ‘Zayn’. Instead of the kind fellow student he was expecting, he was met with a horribly gaunt, rotting, twisted face sitting inches from his own. Ruben screamed and fell back into Penelope’s legs, hearing her cackle above him. Ruben could hear the other people in the hall laughing at him too. After another moment, the ghost in front of him untwisted itself, becoming a normal, if see-through and particularly goth, drow teenager.
“Oh my gods, Zayn, stop being a dick! That was super funny though, sorry Rugen,” Penelope tried to say through her giggles. Ruben tried to correct her mispronunciation, but was once again cut off, this time by Dayne.
“It’s Ruben, babe.”
“...I know, Dayne. Anyways, Zayn, take the kid. Oh! And cutie, don’t forget about me and Dayne helping you when you’re voting for Prom Queen and King!” Penelope said down to him.
“Oh, yeah, sure! I can tell my friend Lucy to vote too! And Kipperlilly.”
“Kipperlilly? What is she, like four different dogs?” Dayne asked with an amused quirk of his eyebrow. Ruben could practically feel Kipperlilly’s anger from half way across the school at that comment. Oh, he had to tell her that one. They’d stab him, but it would be worth it.
The drow-ghost finally spoke up. “Hey, kid. I’m Zayn Darkshadow, he/they/it. I’m a Wizard and a Rogue. You’re kinda skittish, aren’t you? Don’t worry, it’s cute. Come on, I’ll show you the instrumental Bard class.” Ruben waved a quick goodbye to Penelope and Dayne and ran as fast he could to catch up with rapidly floating away Zayn.
After a few minutes of walking with Zayn (well, floating in the ghost’s case), he made it to the door to his first class. He thanked Zayn, and walked in. The teacher was a very pretty winter-eladrin woman, who gave him a smile from her desk. Ruben looked at his future classmates, plus one weirdly empty seat.
“What’s up, homies? Look what the displacer beast dragged in!”
Nailed it.
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“Klippydily Potterpetal?”
“Present! Also, it’s pronounced Kipperlilly Copperkettle,” Kipperlilly said to the TA, some senior human Rogue. It’s not like she was expecting her name to be pronounced correctly when they saw a human standing at the desk, but the giggles from their peers still weren’t appreciated.
“Not going to remember that, anyways is there a Riz Gugak?” She began to tune the TA out, staring down at her Barbarian notes. Which student to pick…it needed to be someone big, with good constitution…by the time they looked back up, the teacher had already entered the room. In fact, she was floating in front of Kipperlilly’s desk.
Professor Eugenia Shadow, a halfling who died at the age of 120 over 500 years ago, was a ghost. The only member of Principal Arthur Aguefort’s adventuring party still known to be active, she was a terrifyingly effective Rogue, who’s family started the Society Of Shadows, the worlds greatest Rogue guild. She was Kipperlilly’s icon. And she was staring down at Kipperlilly expectantly, as was the entire class. Shit. Kipperlilly had just ruined any chance of being Professor Shadow’s favorite and now she was going to look like a slacker and it was all stupid Gorgug’s fault! No, they could fix this. They could fix this!
“Sorry, Professor Shadow, I was lost in thought thinking…um, about how best to break in and out of the school? What was the question?” Kipperlilly said. Hopefully that would show how dedicated she was, despite the slip-up.
“Rule 1 of being a Rogue, don’t tell people your plans, especially not the person whose job it is to stop them,” the teacher said, as the class started to giggle. Kipperlilly’s ears turned bright red as she looked down in embarrassment. Godsdamnit! Professor Shadow continued. “Now the question was ‘How would you assassinate one of the school staff without getting caught?’ For example, Vice Principal Goldenhoard or Professor Runestaff? How would you kill someone vastly more experienced than you without leaving a trace that you were ever there?”
That was…a weird question to start the class off with, but it’s Aguefort, she supposes. After a moment of consideration, Kipperlilly answered. “Well, I suppose I would find Vice Principal Goldenhoard’s address from employment records, right? I would sneak in, wait until he was asleep, and slit his throat!” For a moment, she almost sees an excited grin on the teacher’s face. She answered right!
“Not at all, Miss Copperkettle! Not at all! Do we have any volunteers to answer? Yes, Mr Gukgak?” Kipperkilly’s face falls, and they turn to the other student. A goblin boy in…a detective costume?
“Well, I would wait until Goldenhoard was giving a speech to the school, hide, and shoot him. Too many people present to tell who did it, and everyone will be too busy witch hunting to look for me hidden in the rafters! That’s if I was doing it myself though, it would obviously be better to get someone else to do it and let them take the fall,” the boy said, with a toothy smile. Professor Shadow gave him a more serene smile, drifting over to his desk.
“Yes, exactly! The best place to hide is other people! Very good, Mr Gukgak!” said the ghost. Kipperlilly hates him already. What was his name? Riz? Fuck that guy. She wants to rip his stupid giant ears off.
After another hour of stupid fucking Riz Gukgak getting all the right answers, class was finally released. That was…a disaster. But it’s fine! There was always tomorrow! Ugh, she sounded like Ruben.
As they walked out the door, they were immediately knocked over by someone running into them. She felt something hard against her chest, like a hoof. Oh, it was. The person who had just tripped over her was a minotaur. Tall, dancer’s build, loose clothes. Looks like a bard. Ew.
“I’m so sorry! Here, let me help you with your things,” said the minotaur, and as they reached to gather Kipperlilly’s dropped things, she noticed a trans flag patch on this person’s sleeve. “Hi! I’m Mazey Phaedra, she/her, sophomore Bard! Oh, by the way, that’s kinda the way all of us introduce ourselves here. I’m part of the foreign exchange program, I’m my year’s exchange student from the Red Wastes. Oh, and I’m starting the GSA Club this year, if everything works out! What’s your name?”
As Mazey blabbered on, she performed what might have been the least subtle sleight of hand Kipperlilly had ever seen, very awkwardly trying to slip a piece of paper into one of Kipperlilly’s binders. That was…perfect! A plot hook for an adventure right off the bat! She’d have to see what it was when Mazey walked away.
“Hi! I’m Kipperlilly Copperkettle! She/they, freshman Rogue! Foreign exchange, that’s so exciting!” They said as they took back their stuff.
“Oh, yeah! Aguefort is kind of a big deal, so they get an exchange student every year from every country, your year’s from the Red Wastes is actually an old friend of mine,” and Kipperlilly was already tuning Mazey out, hands itching to look at whatever that paper was. After Mazey said something Kipperlilly didn’t catch and left, the halfling girl ran to the bathroom. Seeing it was empty, she opened the notebook.
The page was covered in runes, Draconic ones at that. That was perfect, her soon-to-be Wizard was a dragonborn! Even with how little they knew of Draconic, they couldn’t make out most of the words. The writing looked…shaky, at best. They could make out the word “heart” and what was either “steal” or “hermit crab”. Strange. They grabbed the page itself to look closer, but they felt suddenly sick. A few of the word’s ink spilled off the pages onto her hands. The lights flickered and the world spun. And then…
Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. Fucking useless…
At least that’s what Kipperlilly thought. But of course, she didn’t see the ink slither up their arm and settle on her chest, drawing a target right over her heart.
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Professor Badgood had told them all to finish the lecture by attempting to have a conversation with their gods. Problem was, there were only so many prayer rooms, and Cleric was kind of the mot populated class after Fighter and Wizard, so Lucy had been waiting her turn for…awhile now. It was ok though, other people needed it more. Lucy had been toying with the wool of her dress for awhile, waiting, when she noticed someone approach her. A decadently dressed high elf with long blonde hair walked up and gave a deep curtsy, before introducing herself.
“Hello! My name is Princess Naradriel of the House Orion, and over there is my buddy, Buddy! Haha! We are both clerics and part of the foreign exchange program, you see, and we wanted to make some friends, and I had seen you were sitting over here, so I introduced myself as Nara, you can call me Nara by the way, and now we’re here. Buddy and I have been friends for a long time, you see he’s from Sunpeak and he knows the high prince of Highcourt and I also know the high prince, and he introduced us, and now we’re friends! He would come introduce himself but he’s talking to the Chosen One of Helio! Once in a lifetime opportunity for a Helioan. Oh, yes, I forgot, he’s a Helioan Cleric. And I’m Galicaien! Who are you a Cleric of, new friend? Wait, did I ask for your name?”
Wow, that was a lot of words. But it’s cool someone’s trying so hard to be Lucy’s friend, she guesses. Especially a princess! After a moment to fiddle with her clothing again, she answers. “Oh, I’m Lucy Frostblade. She/her, Cleric of Ruvina…it’s nice to meet you, Nara. Um, your highness,” and she bows slightly.
“Oh, no! You don’t have to do that, Lucy! I am one of the common folk while I am here in Solace,” Nara said, with a pout. Before Lucy could apologize, they were joined by a a blonde human boy with a Helioic staff.
“Hey, y’all! What’re y’all talkin’ about?” He says, in a thick Highcourtisan accent.
“Hi, I’m Lucy…you must be Buddy? Nara was just mentioning you. It’s nice to meet you,” she awkwardly introduced herself.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Lucy! You wouldn’t happen to go to church would you? Because we’d be…” and Lucy didn’t really hear the rest over the bell. Oh…she didn’t get the chance to pray. That’s ok! She can just try to find a quiet place to quickly pray before her next class! She waves a shy goodbye and quietly mumbled out a goodbye to the two blondes, quickly making her way out and feeling a bit bad for not staying to listen.
As she walks to her next class, she comes across the library and quickly slips in. With a small wave to the librarian, an elderly, dark-skinned human woman, she makes her way to the back of the library and finds a small, silent corner. She whispers a soft spoken prayer to winter winds and warm embraces. As she loses herself in the whispers, she hears a smell “ehem” behind her. She turns to see the librarian.
“Oh! I’m sorry ma’am, was I being loud? I didn’t mean to,” apologizes Lucy. “My name is Lucy. What’s yours, ma’am?”
The librarian gives her a kind smile in return. “Oh, don’t worry, Lucy. You weren’t disruptive. My name is Mrs. Dimweather. I used to be a cleric when I went to this very school, so I understand the need to pray in the library. You were talking about Ruvina, were you not?”
Lucy perks up at that. At her look, Mrs Dimweather holds her hand up, making a dismissing gesture.
“No, I wasn’t a worshiper of her myself, but I was in a party with one of her paladins, and I always thought her philosophy was beautiful. However, I personally worshiped the goddess of knowledge, Cadavra. I just wanted to come over and show my appreciation for Her message.”
“Oh. Well, thank you ma’am! She’s really…it’s just nice to see someone show interest like that. Cadavra seems nice too!” Lucy responds, a small smile growing on her face.
“Well, if you ever wish to talk to someone about Ruvina or hear about other gods, feel free to come here during lunch or free period. You seem like a very nice young lady,” says Mrs. Dimweather, with a kind smile. “Now, you should run along to class now, because I believe you are soon-to-be late.”
“Oh! Thank you ma’am, I didn’t realize how long I was here,” she says, panickedly picking up her backpack and mace. As she runs to the door, she turns back to the librarian and smiles. “And I’d love to! Thank you, ma’am!” And Lucy leaves the library, happily thinking of returning during lunch with her friends.
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“...and so, you and your partner shall perform this incredibly simple abjuration spell successful, or there is simply no hope for you in this track and you ought to speak Mr Gibbons,” finished Professor Runestaff. Despite the differences in the social structure, it seemed at least that the teachers here at Aguefort were no different than at Hudol Middle. Or at least the Wizardry teacher, he wasn’t sure about the others. Especially the Sorcery teacher. Why did they even need one of those?
“To avoid flagrant cheating, I will be assigning you randomly by way of the Extradimensional Icosagon!” Proclaimed the aging teacher. After a moment of strange silence (which Oisin presumes is her peering beyond the Veil), she started announcing partners. After a few names, she finally announces, “Oisin Hakinvar and Adaine Abernant!”
Oisin, having got up at the sound of his own name, looks around for whoever responds to the latter. A waved hand calls him over to one of the front seats. Adaine is a high elf girl in a Hudol uniform, and less (more) importantly, is very very pretty. Blonde hair that shines in the dancing lights, a nervous-yet-bright grin, and two silver moonlit eyes. All of which, Oisin was very normal about. He sat down beside her.
“Hi, I’m Oisin Hakinvar, conjuration specialist. What’s your name?” Oisin asked. Ok, pretty smooth, no fuckups yet…
“Adaine Abernant. Um…divination,” responded Adaine with a nervous chuckle. She had a lovely Fallinel accent.
“Oh. So neither of us is an abjuration specialist? That’ll make this interesting,” he laughed, hoping to alleviate the anxiety with a joke. Adaine’s faced soured a bit at the mention of abjuration.
“My older sister is an abjurationist. I think I’ve picked up a thing or two from her, but don’t let her find out I said that,” said Adaine with a roll of her eyes.
Oisin grinned. “Annoying older sibling? I know the pain. My brother is a necromancer at Hudol and he’s so frustrating about everything. I’d do anything to make sure he doesn’t find out I actually learned one or two things from his never ending monologues.”
Adaine laughed a bit and went to respond, but Professor Runestaff cut them off. Everyone quickly went to work on their arcane seals, including Adaine and Oisin. The smell of ink filled the room as ancient tombs (or rather, composition notebooks) were combed through and scrap paper was scribbled on with quills Professor Runestaff instead they use instead of pencils. Adaine seemed to scan through pages effortlessly, like she could see through them and absorb the information on the other side at the same time. Oisin, meanwhile, worked on weaving magic to form the base of the spell. Some weak abjuration/necromancy spell meant to keep rot out of wood for a bit longer.
By the time the two were done, the runes buzzed in air. Looking around, theirs looked…different from the rest of the class. Maybe they’d overcomplicated it? No! No, it was fine. Theirs was just…more impressive! Surely the teacher would think so!
The teacher clearly did not think so. Fuck. She gave their spell a judging and disappointed side eye. Eventually, after most of the class had successfully performed their spells, it was their turn. Having built most of the spell himself, Oisin allowed Adaine the moment in the spotlight to cast it. She reached and cast the runes forward…missing the block of wood and hitting Oisin’s right hand instead. His arm itched with a searing, burning pain, as it was shedding it’s skin six months earlier than it should have. Runes spiraled up his arms and embedded themselves in his scales with a searing enthusiasm. They looked like…tattoos?
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Mother was going to be so pissed that he had gotten tattoos without permission. He looked up from his arm at Adaine, who looked terrified at her mistake. He looked at Professor Runestaff for help, who just quirked an eyebrow with a stony frown in response. After a beat of silence (other than the whispering of the other students), Oisin spoke up.
“...can I go to the nurse?”
“No,” was the teacher’s monotone response. “In fact, students, does anyone know why the spell targetted Mr. Hakinvar and not the block?
A confused-looking elven kid raised their hand. “Because the girl has bad aim?”
“No! It was because these two made an incredibly obvious mistake in their spellcraft. They marked the spell of LIVING matter, instead of merely ORGANIC matter. Additionally, they overcomplicated this very simple spell, meaning it is likely much more intense than it need be,” she turned back from the class to address the two directly. “Perhaps you two should consider a future in Sorcery instead.”
Oisin went to retort, but was quickly distracted by Adaine. She looked red and puffy, like she might cry at any moment, and she was shaking like a leaf. He reached out to her, but she flinched back. He retracted his hand and sat down in silence for the rest of class, unable to comfort to Adaine before she ran off.
As Oisin was leaving the classroom, as halfling girl stepped out in front of him in some approximation of blocking his path (even though he could probably step over her if he tried). She reached into her vest pocket and pulled out…were those fucking notecards? As if he needed something else to give him a headache today.
“Hi, I’m Kipperlilly Copperkettle, she/they, freshman, and a Rogue! I am forming an adventuring party and I believe you would be the best choice for our party Wizard. That was a very impressive bit of spellcraft back there! Now, I do-”
“What’s the real reason?” Oisin interrupted.
“...you and I are going to work well together, I think,” responded Whatsherface with a sly grin. “The real reason is resources. You’ve got a lot of them, I need a lot of them. We can work together like that. But I do genuinely think you’re an impressive caster.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Oisin. He was disinterested to say the least, but at least there was no beating around the bush. “Who else is in it?”
“Well, there’s our Cleric, Lucy. And our, ugh, bard Ruben. I intended to have Gorgug Thistlespring as our Barbarian but he’s preoccupied, so I’ll be going to Bloodrush tryouts to see if there are any good choices. And finally, hopefully, you and our Fighter, Ivy Embra.”
“Ivy’s here?” Oisin questioned. It had been awhile since they’d…maybe he’d hear her out.
Kipperlilly smirked like a cat with the mouse finally in it’s jaws. “Oh yes! Ivy is bound to say yes, so if you’re curious about that, feel free to visit us at after school in the library, alright? When everyone’s picking their parties in the field? Hope to see you there!” They said as she turned at skipped away. They were frustrating, but maybe worth it to see Ivy again.
He looked at his reflection in the window. The tattoos covering his right arm didn’t look half bad. Sure, the sickly, necrotic green energy didn’t compliment him much, but if he could transmute them….maybe he’d keep them. For academic purposes of course, have to see how long the spell would last and what it would do.
Mother probably wouldn’t mind that much.
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Mary Ann was trying out for Bloodrush in third period. Coach Kleaver was loud. The other kids were mean. Kid named Dayne was mean when she knocked him on his ass. Kid named Ragh was nice and said hi to her. Kid named Corey was loud for no reason. She did good. Will probably be on the team. Kid named Max was trying to talk to her. It was annoying but he was nice to her so she let him stay.
“You were insane out there, dude! Like…wow. I don’t really watch a lot of Bloodrush even though my brother plays, but from what I’ve seen, you could go pro!” Max said. Why was he talking to her? Why was he so loud? She was about to say something but he noticed.
“Oh, shit dude. Am I making you uncomfortable? So sorry dude, I’ll back off,” Max said and walked away. Huh. People didn’t tend to notice her wants until she freaked out. That felt…nice. Weird.
She pulled out her Quokki. Then she got interrupted by another loud person. Halfling girl from the shadows.
“Hi, my name is Kipperlilly Copperkettle, she/they, freshman Rogue! I am forming a party and your performance out on the field was amazing. You’re a Barbarian, right? My party and I are meeting in the library if you’d like to join us,” said the weird perky girl. Mary Ann didn’t like how annoying they were, but it might be nice to have a party. Dad would be happy. Granma would be proud.
“Hi. ‘m Mary Ann. She. Barbarian. I’ll come,” and she walked away from the girl to play Quokki Pet in peace.
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Why the fuck was there an angry Scottish middle schooler?
Ivy had been checking out Ranger class during her free period, and noticed some jock boys in the forest. Deciding to investigate she saw them just being…weird and homoerotic. The orc kid clearly had a crush on the blond human weirdo, and had it bad . Blondie, meanwhile was fully flirting with Closet Case, which was very weird because Ivy’s gaydar was not going off and she never got it wrong. So couldn’t help but keep watching whatever-this-was. What, she was curious and it was good gossip! Plus, the Ranger teacher had encouraged investigation! What the hell was her name again? Sandy Lin Faith? Whatever, not important.
Anyways, Blondie ended up asking Closet Case out on a date to the abandoned skate park, which a totally non-suspicious place to have a date, and Closet Case tried to stutter out an agreement through his flustering which Ivy is not going to recount because it was gross and sappy, and then the two parted ways. Ivy decided to follow Blondie out of the forest, because clearly something was up, especially with how disgusted he looked.
He ended up sneaking off the campus of school, weird for what seemed to be the school’s golden boy, and into…an alleyway? Ok, what the fuck was up with Blondie? Ivy followed him, stealthing fairly successfully. And there she saw him…talking to a middle schooler? What the fuck?! Ok, that was. Weird. Ivy leaned in closer to hear their conversation.
The girl was wearing ragged clothes and seemed to be a wannabe skater, and more importantly, her thick Dwarven accent was making it very hard to follow their whispered conversation. Something about the skate park, “palim zest” and something called raug. Rahg? Whatever, spelling isn’t important.
After a while more of unintelligible talking, the girl skated away and the boy begin to leave for the school. Huh…he mentioned the skate park…oh shit, was he planning to prank Closet Case? That was fucked up…a little embarrassing for him that he has to get middle schoolers to help with that, though.
“That was super suspicious, right?” Ivy heard from behind her. Whirling around and drawing an arrow she saw…some stuck up halfling prep? Oh gods, Ivy could already feel the headache coming on.
““Hi, my name is Kipperlilly Copperkettle, she/they, freshman Rogue! I am forming a party and I would like to invite you onto it! We’re meeting in the librar-”
“Not interested,” Ivy interrupted, and immediately began to walk away. She could hear the prep sputtering with shock behind her and grinned.
“Oisin Hakinvar will be there!” Kettlechip Krispykreme shouted. Now that got Ivy’s attention. Oisin? Huh…
“...the library, you said?”
“Yep! Right after classes end! See you there!” Copperkiller Caterpillar said with a smirk, skipping away. Gods, what did Ivy just get into?
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Ok. This was it. This was the moment the High Five Heroes was born. Gods, Kipperlilly picked such a good name for them. She sat at an empty table in the corner of the library, homework in front of them while they waited for everyone to arrive. After, like, an hour of waiting for the others (forty-two seconds, but who’s counting?), Kipperlilly heard something. She looked up, expecting to see Mary Ann, or Ivy, or better yet, Lucy, but instead she saw…a weird goth kid. A ghost, too, by the looks of it. She cleared their throat.
“Ehem? This table is taken, sorry. For my party?”
“Didn’t see their names on it,” they said. Kipperlilly’s eye twitched. Before she could respond, he pulled her binder over with a telekinetic flick of his transparent finger. He picked it up and floated away, holding it out of her reach. “Wow, this is…really pink! And all these little cat stickers.! What, did you decorate this in third grade or something?”
Kipperlilly’s face grew red, both with anger and embarrassment. That was her binder with the plot hook paper! “Fifth, actually. Now give it back, it has, um, important things!”
“Oh! I’m so sorry, have it back,” he said with false cheer, and threw it. The binder sailed through the air, right over her and into the book return. Kipperlilly scrambled after it, but couldn’t reach it as the conveyor belt took it away. Gods fucking damn it, now she’d have to ask the librarian to get it for them after the party meeting!
The ghost goth just laughed, leaning back in the air and giving a mocking wave goodbye as he phased through the floor, escaping Kipperlilly’s lunge. Kipperlilly raged in silence. Can’t one fucking thing go right today?!
So of course, because the gods hated her, Lucy and Ruben walked in to see Kipperlily clawing at the floor.
Ruben, that asshole started snickering immediately. Lucy tutted, chastising him silently and making towards Kipperlilly, holding out a hand to help them up.
“Are you ok, Lily?” Lucy asked in a voice as soft as freshly fallen snow. Kipperlilly was silent for a moment, then tore her gaze away from the face of the frost giant.
“Yeah, I’m fine. That asshole ghost just threw my binder in the book return and I…got overly dramatic about it. Like usual. It’s fine,” she responded.
Lucy gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. I can ask Mrs. Dimweather to get it for you when she’s done with whatever she’s doing?”
“Thanks, Lucy. You always know just what to say,” Kipperlilly said. Out of the corner of her eye, they could see Ruben making gagging motions. Lucy nodded at Kipperlilly and walked away to do exactly what she had said.
She turned back to snap at Ruben for whatever he was doing, only to see Oisin standing beside the gnomish boy. They quickly brushed out any wrinkles in their skirt, composing themself for their meeting.
“Hello! Welcome, come sit down, I got us a table!” Kipperlilly ushered Oisin (and Ruben, sadly) to the table to sit down. “Welcome to the party, as I’ve said before, my name is Kipperlilly and I’m the party’s Rogue.”
Kipperlilly looked at Ruben expectantly who looked up from the ukulele strings he was plucking with a confused expression. “Huh? Oh! Sorry, I’m Ruben and I bet you can’t guess what my class is!”
Oisin huffed with mild annoyance. Good, she wouldn’t be alone in her frustration at Ruben’s…everything. “Oisin Hakinvar. Wizard, and according to Kipperlilly’s invite, the party wallet too.”
“Mary Ann,” said a voice from seemingly nowhere. All of them jumped at the sudden appearance of Mary Ann, who apparently had walked in and sat down without notice and started playing with some handheld game.
“She’s our Barbarian!” Now Kipperlilly…wasn’t too happy about their choice in Barbarian, but by that point she had already asked like three others and they all said no and…it looks like they were stuck with this. At least she didn’t seem to talk much.
A tall elven girl walked in, scanning the library until she saw their small table to the side. She marched over, moving as if she owned the room, and sat down. She glanced towards Oisin, but neither said a word to each other.
“Alright,” she said, in a slight Fallinel accent despite not having any ancestry from there. She sneered slightly at the group. “This is it?”
Kipperlilly went to retort and was interrupted as she felt an ice cold hand on their shoulder. “Hey Lily! Mrs. Dimweather is getting your binder right now. Oh! Hi, everyone! Guess you all got here while I was gone…um, I’m Lucy. I’m a Cleric.”
“Ivy, Fighter,” the wood elf said, looking Lucy up and down with a small smile. Oh, hell no. She was looking at Lucy like she was piece of meat . How dare she?! No, they had to get a different fighter, maybe she could deal with Fabian after all, or maybe-
“Nice to meet you Ivy! And everyone else! I think…I think this is gonna be a good year. I like this party,” Lucy said, with an optimism not all too common for her. And Kipperlilly melted. She couldn’t ruin this for Lucy! Kipperlilly would just need to run interference for the rest of the year. Or just until Lucy realized they needed a new Fighter. And hopefully a new bard while they’re at it…
Everyone went around, reintroducing themselves, and Kipperlilly knew it was time. She reached a hand up and high fived all five of her party mates. “Hey, that can be our thing! High fives! The High Five Heroes!”
Lucy smiled at the name, but the others…Ruben started giggling , Oisin just looked confused, and Ivy, that asshole, looked like Kipperlilly had just insulted her entire lineage. Why were they reacting like that? It was a good name! It was the perfect name! Minmaxed for optimal enjoyment of the party! They had to like it, it was objectively wrong not to like it!
“That’s stupid. What are you, ten?” Ivy asked with a sneer. Kipperlilly huffed in anger standing up on their chair to get eye level with the sitting elf.
“It’s a perfectly good name! It’s cute and it’s a reference to our thing!”
“High fives can’t be our thing, everyone high fives,” Oisin butted in.
“That’s stupid! And no one asked you anyways!”
“I think we should put it to a vote. Isn’t democracy your thing, Kippy? Unless you’re afraid you’ll lose…” Ruben said, clearly finding devious joy in her suffering . Realizing it was three against one, Kipperlilly looked around for support, but Mary Ann wasn’t paying attention and Lucy was freezing up at the fighting. Fine, on her own. That was fine! It was fine! Everything going off the plan today was fine and they weren’t upset and it was fine. And because things were so fine, Kipperlilly was going to respond in a calm and normal manner.
But then they were cut off by a scream.
The building anger and tension in the group suddenly disappeared as they all turned. Mrs. Dimweather stumbled out of the book return room, screeching in agony, bones crackling and dislocating, inky lines carving through her skin. The lines looked familiar, and suddenly Kipperlily remembered. It was the handwriting from Mazey’s paper.
The book return itself begin the shudder and shake, and suddenly a dozen books flew out, taking to air, papers flapping like wings. Papers began to spill out of the open door, others joining them from around the library by snapping themselves out of book covers and flying out of drawers in the librarian’s desk. They began to layer over themselves, folding and piling until Kipperlilly recognized what they were forming. It was a car-sized dragon made of paper, like an origami creature enlarged and awakened. Ink blot pupils formed over it’s parchment eyes and they zeroed in on Kipperlilly. Or rather, unbeknownst to her, on the marking on their chest. Mrs. Dimweather neck snapped towards the group of horrified and confused teenagers with a sickening crack . She lifted a single knobby finger to her mouth
“Shhhhhhhhhh. Quiet in the library.”