Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a nice sunny day and there was a see of students pouring inside the Aguefort Adventuring Academy.

Aloof seniors.

Stressed juniors.

Awkward sophomores.

Eager freshmen.

And one neurotic elf.

Adaine Abernant stood by the school’s entry tapping one her feet. She was deliberating on what her sister had told her that same morning.

Steal a book and then I get popular. Adaine pondered. How does that even work? I’m not even a Rogue.

Moved by her mind, Adaine went directly towards what she would consider the school’s most forbiden place. The teacher’s lounge.

One of Adaine’s feet tapped on the floor and her heart was starting to beat faster and faster.

Get in, grab anything and then get out. It’s easy. You are a Wizard, you can do this. Adaine stopped herself as she almost opened the door. But the teacher’s are also Wizards… and Rogues and Barbarians…

Adaine turns back around and began to walk towards the entrance. Her mind going faster than her feet.

How could Aelwyn convince me to try and do that? Tha school probably has measures against student’s stealing from them. They probaly have somekind of robotic hall monitor’s and some mind readers around and… no no no no no… Do they already know I tried to do it?... Oh my god what if they do!? I can’t afford it! I can’t be know as the Hudol pretender that got expelled the first day! My parent’s will be even more insufrable… That must’ve Aelwyn’s plan all along! Ok… calm yourself, you technically haven’t done anything. You can explain everything to the teachers! Just calm yourself and stop crying while in this stupid uniform!  

“Uhm… Hi?”

Adaine was sat on the floor while holding her head and she raised it to look at whomever spoke to her while she was trying to crawl out of her panic. An Orc-ish boy stood in front of her, he was hunched over but was still taller than her by a wide margin. He looked quite awkward and had some sort of metal scrap in his hands.

“Wo-would like a tin-flower?” The scraps in his hands are indeed shaped like a flower.

 “Why?” Adaine asks with consufion.

The Orc-ish boy stammers for a bit but quickly answers back.

“You look like you’d like one.”

Adaine tentatively takes it from his hands and holds it tenderly as to not prick herself with the metal. It is cool to the touch and Adaine quickly holds it to her forehead. The coldness of it helps soothe her hot head a bit.

“Thank you.” She sighs from the little relief she has. “I-I… I didn’t get your name.”

“Gorgug! Gorgug Thistlespring. Nice to meet you.” Gorgug offers her his hand.

“Adaine Abernant.” Adaine takes it and the two of them have argueably the most tender and yet most awkward handshake the two of them have ever had.

Gorgug offers to help her up and she almost accepts, but sadly they are interrupted by an Elven boy that comes out of nowhere and starts a fight with Gorgug.

Adaine shoots a Ray of Sickness at the Elf and helps Gorgug to fight him. Sadly, again, they are interrupted by the Vice-Principal and Adaine’s anxiousness about getting detention does become a reality.

Chapter Text

“Next!” The lunch lady yelled for the next student to get their ration of Creamed Corn Surprise.

Gorgug awkwardly shimmied as the line moved a long and he filled his plate as he did. He looked around and found it odd that a magical adventuring school would use plain electricity to light their cafeteria.

At his sides there were the other unfortunate kids that somehow managed to get detention on the first day of class and that apparently will become Gorgug’s adventuring party.

A Goblin boy called Riz was busying himself with piling his tray high with one of anything and of everything the school offered them to eat. He was twitchy, abnormally so, and his head and ears moved indiscriminately in almost every direction.

A Thiefling girl that didn’t deign herself to tell him her name when he asked her was high-five-ing the lunch lady and the two of them began to chat and laugh at something only the two of them knew.

Fabian Aramais Seacaster. Gorgug wasn’t mad anymore at the elven boy for hitting him, but by the Gods! Fabian made it hard to not be mad at him. He had spent all lunch bemoaning about how the Ray of Sickness that Adaine had cast on him made him unable to try for the Owl-Bears and it was getting annoying.

And Adaine! Adaine had helped Gorgug fight Fabian. The elven girl wasn’t looking that that good if he was being honest. Her posture was quite rigid and she had not spoken any word since Gorgug met her again,

He had been thinking about her all day, the Barbarian teacher had gotten really mad at him for going into one of his worries rather than into a rage.

He had been wanting to apologize to her all day.

Gorgug had been so happy when she actually accepted the tin flower he had made. Maybe he could finally make a friend!... but then he just had to get her into trouble.

“Here you go!” The lunch lady plops a gargantuan amount of the Creamed Corn Surprise on Gorgug’s tray and he languidly moves and sits down at a table with the other four detainees.

The atmosphere at the table was silent and uncomfortable.

Riz was demolishing all the food he had gotten for himself, taking no interest to anyone else at the table.

Fig was laying on the bench with her feet proped up and Fabian was putting them down not wanting to eat while looking at the underside of her shoes. Fig just proped her feet back up.

Adaine was sat a bit distanced from the group and Gorgut debated if to sit in front of her or not. It was a short debate, but still!

“Uhm… Hi.” He says in a small voice and an even smaller wave at Adaine.

The girl stopped with her pushing her food around and turned to look at him.

“Hi?”

“Uhm… How you’ve b-”

“Hey guys!”

A human girl comes their way looking quite excited and plops down her own tray besides them.

“I’m Kristen and I was told I had to join your group since I also got detention!”

“Oh yeah?” The Thiefling girl stand up and asks Kristen. “What did you do?”

“Oh! I bore false witness.” Kristen says and takes out a dirty bible and begins to clean the creamed corn on it.

“I wanted to get expelled.” The Thiefling says, and Gorgug really needs to ask her name again. It weird refering to her as just the Thiefling. “Apparently trying to eat the lunch of one of the teachers wasn’t enough.”

“Well I shouldn’t be here!” Fabian begins with bousterious offense. “I only wanted to prove my worth and then those two!” He pointed at Gorgug and Adaine. “Ganged up on me! I couldn’t even get to the try outs becuase she made me sick! It’s not fair!”

“Well you shouldn’t have started a fight if you can’t stand getting hit.”

The table falls into silence after Adaine says those words.

Fabian stammers while red on the face.

The Thiefling cackles and slaps the table.

Riz raises one of his eyebrows.

Gorgug stiffles a giggle.

Kristen quickly moves past it.

“Well anyway. I hope we can at least get along with each oth-”

“You said you got detention for bareing false witness?” Riz interrupts Kristen.

“Ye-yeah? Why do you as-”

“That makes no sense.” Riz hunches as if to pounce and squints his eyes. “Why would anyone give you detention for that?”

“Well Coah Daybreak and I know each other and I didn’t live up to our church’s estándar so-”

“Again with that!” Riz interrupted Kristen again. The girls had began to look anxious. “The Coach gave you detention? For a religious thing? What kind of lie is that?”

“It-It’s not a lie!”

“The human is lying to us, guys! She wants something from us!”

Now the other four people sat at the table began to yell over each other. One of them yelling only to goad everyone else to yell.

Gorgug tried to talk to Adaine once again but his words were drowned out by all the noise everyone else made.

He sighed and turned to eat his own pile of food.

Yes, I know. This is annoying.

Gorgug jumps at the new voice in his head. He quickly looks around and finds Adaine pointing at him and looking sorry.

Sorry! There’s no good way to start a Message spell. I-I thought we could speak to each other like this. Of course only if want to. It-It can be uncomfortable for some people and-

No, it’s fine!

Gorgug  quickly thinks inside his mind and notices Adaine’s face relaxing as he does.

Great!... You were saying?

Hi?

Hi.

Gorgug scratches the back of his head and shakes as if he was uncomfortable in his own clothes.

I wanted to thank you, for what you did earlier.

Oh! Don’t mention it. It’s nothing.

But I got you detention.

It-It’s okey… You don’t have to worry about it.

I still feel sorry though.

Adaine quickly takes notice of his sad face and quickly interjects.

Well… you helped me first. So now I would say we are even!

Adaine takes out the tin flower Gorgug gave her and puts it in her breast pocket.

It’s a very beautiful flower.

Thanks, my parents helped me to make them. They are supposed to help me make friends.

Would you say this one worked well then?

Both teens looked at the other with tentative smiles completely oblivious to the other four raging teens argueing around them.

Ye-yeah! Only if you want to, of course! I-I… I don’t have many friends

I don’t have any friends!

Oh, me neither. I lied just there becuase I didn’t want to make things more awkward.

Adaine gives him a small smile and a blue light passes over her eyes.

“It’s on you plebes!”

She quickly ducks under the table as balls of corn fly everywhere. One of those balls hits Gorgug in the face but he only wipes it off and adds it to his own serving.

He takes a bite of his food with a small smile. Not a bad end to my first day. He thinks.

Gorgug throws up that same Creamed Corn later that same afternoon as he is revived. Adaine is crying over him as he opens his eyes and behind her there’s the body of the lunch lady with a metal flower stabbing her head. Adaine hugs him but he is too much inside his worry to notice.

“I went to hell.” He rasps. “How did I go to hell? I’m just a kid…”

Gorgug barely stops himself from entering a rage by noticing how Adaine cries on his shoulder.

Chapter Text

Kristen Applebees has added Figueroth Faeth to a group chat!

Kristen Applebees has added Fabian Seacaster to a group chat!

Kristen Applebees has added Riz Gukgak to a group chat!

Kristen Applebees has added Gorgug Thistlespring to a group chat!

Kristen Applebees has added you to a group chat!

Adaine noticed the notification on her crystal.

The young elven girl was now in her room. It was fairly big in size but still smaller and less refined than either her parents or sister’s room and she was getting ready her backpack for tomorrow’s classes.

Kristen Applebees: Hey guys! How are you all doing?

Fabian Seacaster has left the group chat!

Kristen Applebees has added Fabian Seacaster to the group chat!

Fabian Seacaster: Great… Even when I want time for myself I can’t escape you losers.  

Figueroth Faeth: Wasn’t this an app for prayer chains or something? Bo-ring!

Figueroth Faeth has changed their name to Fig.

Fig has changed Fabian Seascarter’s name to Overcompensator.

Fig has changed Kristen Applebees name to Corn Girl.

Fig has changed Riz Gukgak’s name to The Ball.

Fig: There! Now it’s better.

Overcompensator: EXCUSE ME!?

Corn Girl: How did you do that? I never gave you admin privileges.

Fig: It didn’t say I couldn’t. If anything it’s on you and you not knowing how to make a group chat.

The Ball: How did you get my number @Corn Girl? I never gave it to you. It’s very suspicious…

Corn Girl: I asked the school? We are a party, we have to have our numbers…

The Ball: Very suspicious indeed…

Corn Girl: Now

Corn Girl: Wait a second

Overcompensator: WHY CAN’T I CHANGE MY NAME BACK!?

Overcompensator: DEVIL GIRL I DEMAND YOU TO CHANGE MY NAME BACK!!!

Adaine took one look at her new party’s group chat and wisely put her crystal in silent mode.

She went back to finishing her school material’s for tomorrow, wich she finished quite quickly, and ended her night with her usual sulking on her bed.

Her stomach growled and she got even more angry. Her family woulnd’t let her eat in her room and she didn’t want to spend her dinner time having to listen to them talking about how improper she was while killing the Lunch lady with her fists instead of a spell.

So… she just lied about not being hungry and wanting to rest a lot before tomorrow.

And now she was hungry, lucky her.

It was still quite early and Adaine found herself with nothing interesting or fun to do. All her books she had already read and all the school work she had done was too easy for her.

With a sigh Adaine picked up her crystal and opened the group chat. Amidst the intense yelling and talking over one another, and several ridiculous but original name calling, she found the number of the one person she could maybe talk with.

Adaine Abernant: Hi

Adanine waited for an answer as her crystal showed Gorgug writing a message.  

And waited…

And waited…

And waited…

Gorgug Thistlespring: Hi!

Adaine Abernant: Hi!

Adaine cringed at herself. She had already said hi. One does not say hi two times, it’s lame! Or so she thought. It was her first time messaging a friend.

Adaine Abernant: How are you?

Gorgug Thistlespring: Not good. I went to hell.

Adaine grimaced and tried to find what to say to him.

Adaine Abernant: Well…

Adaine Abernant: If you went to hell that’s absolutely not good.

Why did I write that!? And why did I sent it!? What is wrong with me!? Adaine panicked as she re-read and realiced how her words could be interpreted.

Before she could resign herslef to turning off her crystal a tiny ding came from it.

Gorgug Thistlespring: I figured as much. I’ve been bummed out a lot.

Great! He’s still there… I haven’t screwed up this yet!

Adaine Abernant: Well no one can blame you for feeling this way. It’s natural.

Gorgug Thistlespring: Yeah… my parents didn’t help though.

Adaine sat straighter and face turned to an angry grimace. She began to write a message and then she erased it. She did it again and again until she settled with a message wich could convey her worry.

Adaine Abernant: How bad are they?

Gorgug Thistlespring: They spent the whole evening cooking my favourite foods so they are feeling pretty bad.

Adaine’s face turned confused.

Adaine Abernant: They are feeling pretty bad?

Gorgug Thistlespring: Yeah. When I told them I died and went to hell they couldn’t come up with anything comforting. So now they are trying to compensate.

Adaine Abernant: But that’s good?

Gorgug Thistlespring: I don’t wanna worry them. They are gnomes. They are tiny and old and they already do too much with having to fix the bed I break everynight.

An odd mixture of feelings washed over Adaine at that moment.

Confusion.

Worry.

Frustration.

Pity.

Anger.

Envy.

Adaine Abernant: You seem to have like, really good parents.

Gorgug Thistlespring:Yeah… They’re the best.

There was a bit of silence as Adaine digested her friends words until another ping came from her crystal.

Gorgug Thistlespring: And how have you been? I think we’ve only talked about me so… ha ha…

Gorgug Thistlespring: How are you Adaine?

The two friends end up chatting with the other until the late hours of the night. Adaine says goodbye by herself and Gorgug has to be told by his parents to go to sleep.

Chapter Text

“A lot of people might tell you that rageing is a bunch of chemicals and hormones flowing around your blood stream. Or some others might tell you that you can become a liability becuase of it.”

The voice of Gogug’s barbarian teacher Porter droned on while the entire class stood on a line in the school’s gymnasium. It was his first class of the day and any other time Gorgug would perhaps opine about how this was done so the students would get cranky enough to rage but he was, funnily enough, to tired to care.

As Porter went on with his lesson Gorgug languidly wrote on his notebook. Each word tiredly scribbled with his metal pen. The words were not in the cleanest of writings but if he could understand what he wrote then that was enough.

Gorgug had the tendency to mouth the words he would write so Fig, who was skipping bard classes, besides him could hear his voice if she strained her ears.

“MISTER THISTLESPRING!!!”

“…mister… …thistle-”

Gorgug’s notebook was taken from his hands and thrown to the far side of the gym. Gorgug now stands and looks at Porter with rapt attention.

“Mister Thistlespring.” Porter spoke with the practiced cadence of a scolding teacher. “Would you like to share with the class whatever it was that you had on your notebook as to not pay attention?”

“I-I was…” Gorgug stammered. “I was copying what you were saying, sir.”

“And I remember telling you all before class that you’d need to pay attention as I explained the course.”

“But I was.” Gorgug defended himself.

“Not with your head inside a notebook, you were not!” Porter step back and spoke to the class at large. “To become a Barbarian one’s rage and drive must come as second nature to oneself. MISTER THISTLESPRING! 20 LAPS! NOW!”

“Wh-why!?”

 “IT’LL TEACH YOU TO NOT NOT PAY ATTENTION!!!”

Gorgug sighed and resigned himself to start running.

“You can’t just do that to him!” Fig exclaimed before Gorgug could start running. “Just becuase he was paying attention differently than how you wanted him to! It’s not fair!”

All the other students held in their breaths and Porter stroked his chin. He then let out a deep full body laugh and pointed at him.

“THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!” He exclaimed. “WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THAT THISTLESPRING? 20 MORE LAPS FOR YOU!”

“Are you an idiot? That doesn’t make any sense at all!” Fig spoke before Gorgug could react to the added punishment once again.

“AND THERE ARE ANOTHER 20 LAPS FOR THISTLESPRING! FOR LETTING OTHERS SPEAK ON HIS BEHALF!” Porter directed his next words to Gorgug. “YOU GONNA LET HER SPEAK FOR YOU AGAIN?”

Gorgug made a stop sign with his hand at Fig and then sighed and started running.

Fig cringed and awkwardly stuffed her hands on her pockets.

Porter yelled at the room and told the students to begin their mock fighting. The mock part was spoken in quatation marks.

The gym was bathed in the miserable sounds of a class full of preteens having to exercise.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” Porter laughed. “I LOVE BEING A TEACHER!”

Gorgug hit his locker door with his head and groaned.

“I can’t feel my legs…” He groaned.

“I said I was sorry!” Fig told him as she stopped besides him. “It’s not my fault that your teacher is such and idiot.”

She leaned back on the lockers with a non-chalante air to her form. Or at least she tried, becuase Gorgug could see her biting her lips and frowing.

“It’s ok…” He spoke through his weariness. “You don’t have to feel bad.”

“I don’t feel bad!” Fig quickly corrected and her non.chalante aura was broken. “If anyone should feel bad it’s Porter! Honestly? I think he might part of all the weird stuff going on here.”

Gorgug lifted his head from his locker and started to strech his legs.

“Maybe… you should just… attend your Bard classes instead.”

“Is this why you are not attending Bard classes?”

Gorgug spoke and both Fig and him turned to look at the new arrivals.

Adaine and Kristen were returning from their own self appointed quest at the school’s library.

“Ha ha… Very funny guys.” Fig defended herself. “This school blows. I’m not gonna waste my time in it’s classes.”

“By going to another one of it’s classes?” Adaine says with a raised eyebrow.

Both Gorgug and Kristen snicker at Fig’s later awkwardness.

“Ah… shut up!”

Soon after that Riz and Fabian join their group and they begin to assemble any and all clues thay have found so far. Riz telling them about someone named Ostentatia and some dude named Johnny Spells whom apparently does not fuck.

Funny how that works.

Gorgug walks behind them until he stops to rest his sore muscles.

“Long day?” Adaine asks him as she stays behing with him as well. Their group continuing to talk and walk beyond them.

“Just a tiring one.” He answers. “You?”

“Classes are fine. They’re just a bit boring.” Adaines grimaces as she speaks. “And all of this stuff…” She motions to all around her. “It makes me anxious and not in a good way.”

Gorgug and Adaine start to walk once again and the half orc boy tries to assuage his friend.

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t kill us, right?” He says with an awkward smile and Adaine pushes his face with her hand. “Hey!”

“That was so bad!” Adaine says as she quickens and shakes her head with a barely visible smile.

“I was trying, ok!?” Gorgug yells as he follows after her but any amotion one could make out from him would be only chagrin. “What’s the worst that could happen!?”

Gorgug lays his bloodied axe besides him on the highway and sees as Adaine writhes in pain under the car they had stolen. His heart rate going down.

He can only hold her hand, uselessly in his own opinion, becuase he doesn’t have anything that can help her.

“Oh, Daddy-oh… This is gnarly… and not in a good way…”

“Shut the fuck up!” Gorgug yells at the should-be-dead motorist behind him making Adaine flinch at the noise. His heart rate goes up making him feel sick. “Sorry!... sorry…”

“Aughhhh… Is everyone fin-OH MY GOODNESS!” Kristen wobbly walks from behind the wreckage and quuickly puts a han don both of her party members.

Gorgug’s heart rate goes down again and he calms down a bit seeing Adaine’s breathing become more even as well as her injuries healing.

“I’m… so sorry… I should have…”

“It’s fine. Do-don’t be sorry.” Gorgug stops Kristen from going down one of her usual self flagelating ramblings. “Everything’s better now.”

“Hell yeah it is!” Yelled Fabian as he did a backflip on a flaming motorcycle.