in a world where most hanahaki sufferers cough up either the poetic blossoms - cherry, plum, apricot - or whichever decorative flowers the person they're in love with likes the most, what shang qinghua starts coughing up is unmistakeably the petals of some of the rarest flowers of this world.
at first even he has doubts - surely these can't be the petals of the midnight-burst fiery flower, which only grows in like two caves of the demon realm he's never been to, and the petals from yesterday could not have belonged to the highly exotic eternal purity blossom!
however one day shen qingqiu (sy) walks in on him by accident and immediately recognises the petals too. as a friend, he commiserates of course, but as the flora and fauna nerd he is, he's absolutely fascinated that shang qinghua's hanahaki has him coughing up the rarest pidw flowers - it must be because he's the author, shen qingqiu decides.
as the only one to know this secret, he covers shang qinghua at meetings when the disease progresses, individual petals giving way to small flower buds. this is when it really begins to hurt, shen qingqiu knows. so he sneaks in meds on an ding, shaking his head when he's greeted by the sight of shang qinghua bent over the desk trying to catch his breath, the floor around carpeted in pearlescent white, occasionally dotted with blood red.
"not only does he use you as his personal punching bag, now you're also about to hack up both lungs because of him? this is worse than all of your doomed romance side plots from pidw combined, airplane." the words are cold, but the hand that lands on shang qinghua's shoulder and begins to pour in qi is anything but.
shang qinghua only gives him a weak "i'm an idiot, i know" smile as he accepts the vial of medicine and downs it in one go. what else can he say?
it's not like he can ever let shen qingqiu know that the flowers are for him.
Enjoying your afternoon does sound like a pretty good idea, in light of all that's happened. Given that you still feel like you've been run over by wildebeests, however, what that enjoyment looks like after lunch is you sitting on a bench not too far from the cafeteria, zoning out and letting two birds tug on your hair.
They aren't injuring you so it takes you a minute to realize that they are attempting to braid the strands that they've grabbed in their beaks.
"You guys are so cute and so fuckin' weird," you tell them.
They chirp back cheerily.
A shadow falls across you, and the birds startle before fluttering off, abandoning their little project. Your use your fingers to rub your hair back into place, then raise an eyebrow at the source of the shadow.
Leona stares down at you.
"How does anyone find anything in this place?" he asks. He's still wearing yesterday's outfit, which is probably bothering him a bit by now. Even you can pick up the faint whiff of stale sweat from his flight over, it's bound to be ten times worse for a lion's nose.
"You gotta follow the sparkly yellow pee lines," you tell him.
There's a pause.
Leona raises a hand.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
You sigh and wave him off.
"I'm not that out of it. There are these magical line path thingies the students use to navigate. Considering you're a guest, I suppose you don't get one," you reason.
"Then how am I supposed to find the on-campus store? These people do have one, don't they?" Leona clarifies.
Yeah he's irritated. Not that this is an uncommon state for him, but you don't need to be doing the whole lion-with-a-thorn-in-his-paw routine.
Heaving a sigh you get up, wince, and shake out your sore muscles.
"Well since you've asked so nicely, I'll take you," you say. You pause for a moment, let the guide magic orient itself to your new goal, and set off. "I've heard there are a couple of shops, actually. Not that I've been to any of them yet."
"Why not?"
Leona's not really paying attention, you don't think. He's sharp enough to figure out why not under most circumstances. But he is watching you, and you think he's sniffing a bit.
You wonder if RSA smells as weird to him as it does to Grim.
"All my money is in Ramshackle House," you say. "Or in the mail, in the increasingly unlikely chance Crowley actually sent me something before locking down the college and turning off his phone."
"You're out here broke and alone."
"Broke and with Grim," you correct.
"Broke and with the bottomless pit that could probably eat Kalim out of house and home if he really tried," Leona concludes. "Tch, what were you gonna do? Find an errand job running around for some of these guys, like you did for Crowley?"
"If I can, I guess. Not that they've told me what they even want me here for yet," you reply, hearing some of your anxiety creep into your tone. So far no one's charged you for the food at the cafeteria, but you're not even sure if that's because it's free, or if there's an expense account accumulating somewhere with a bill due at the end of the month or something.
Leona's quiet.
That suits you fine. The walk's waking you up a little, but it's also making you very aware that you've done a lot of running around and bending over and picking stuff up. You're in pretty good shape, all things considered since arriving in Twisted Wonderland there have been few opportunities to slouch on the cardio, but that morning's really taken it out of you anyway.
The shop you end up at is a small little building outside the school's gates, near the waterfront parts of the island. It has a slanted wooden sign announcing itself as Birch & Beachwood's General Goods + Sauna, plus a cheerful banner proclaiming student discounts for Royal Sword Academy.
Inside is indeed a very general arrangement of goods. Knickknacks and souvenirs, tons of stuff with Royal Sword Academy's arms on it, snowglobes and wood carvings of bears and ski sets mixed with swimsuits. There's a section for school supplies, and a section with groceries, and a freezer full of individually packaged ice creams crammed next to a colorful vending machine.
"Oh customers, hoo hoo!" a cheerful blond man with arms that might be bigger than Leona's actual waist greets from behind the counter.
You pause for a moment. Despite the surprise, you manage a reflexive nod and wave of acknowledgment.
It's been a while since you've seen a guy who would actually qualify as big by the standards of your old world. Tall, sure, but this guy is also broad, with pink skin that's got a little sunburned in places, and a cheerful sort of face that makes his customer service smile appear to be genuine.
Even Leona blinks and looks twice.
Then he shakes it off, pulls out his wallet, and dumps it into your hands.
"I'm gonna pick some stuff out. You handle the haggling," he tells you.
"What, you can't do that yourself?" you ask, almost dropping the wallet and then trying to shove it back at him. Also, what haggling? This is a shop on Sages Island, not an open marketplace, they don't really haggle much on listed prices.
Leona doesn't cooperate. You open one of his pockets to put the wallet back in but he smacks it shut again before you can, then fends you off with a hand to your head.
"Usually Ruggie does it."
"Do I look like Ruggie to you?"
"Do it, and I will buy you an ice cream."
You hesitate.
The ice cream freezer shines like a tempting beacon from the corner of the room.
Damn.
"...You win this round, Kingscholar."
You take Leona's wallet and make your way to up to the front, while he unsurprisingly heads over towards the clothing section. The proprietor beams at you expectantly.
"New students at Royal Sword Academy?" he guesses.
"Uh, kind of," you allow. "We're temporary transfers from Night Raven College."
"Oh, I see! ...Actually no I don't. What does that mean? Are you both Night Raven students?"
The man's tone shifts towards something less than his previous joviality. You suddenly recollect a handful of NRC alumni who set up shops in Foothill Town, and how negatively some of them responded to the presence of RSA students or graduates on their turf. The school rivalry can go pretty deep.
"I am attending Royal Sword Academy," you say, and bite back the 'for now'.
The man nods.
"Good, good! That means you can have the student discount."
Aaand that's why Leona wants you to pay. Of course. Makes sense now.
Who knows how much cash he actually has on hand, if he's not got free access to his family's funds right now?
Well, actually, you do. You open up the wallet to take a look.
...Okay he's fine, he's good, thank god Royal Sword Academy doesn't seem to have many thieves. It doesn't, right?
Maybe you'll offer Leona that little lock box that Vil sent you. You're sure it's got at least some spells on it to keep valuables safe.
You clear your throat and decide to make small talk to distract from the literal princely sum of cash you are now holding onto.
"So there's a sauna here, too...?"
"Oh yes, it's around the back! Very popular with the academy's athletes, the waters here are quite nice as well so we encourage swimming, sauna, and in the winter time, snow baths too!"
"Snow baths?"
"After the snow has fallen, patrons go into the sauna, steam up, and then roll around in the snow. Very rejuvenating!"
You only half listen, watching out of the corner of your eye as someone else comes into the shop. A gaggle of Royal Sword students head towards the vending machine, calling out cheerful "Hi, Beachwood!" greetings. The proprietor pauses to wave at them.
"Hoo hoo boys!"
He turns back to you.
"If you're interested in the sauna, we sell passes. Single use, or you can buy tokens that will let you use it for a month or even the whole academic year," he explains. "I can't always guarantee it won't be full up, however. It's very popular!"
"Um, I'll keep it in mind," you say.
Leona takes a while digging through the shop. The RSA students notice him and pause, whispering among themselves. Then they see you and the whispering intensifies. A couple of them nudge each other before one of them grabs a bag of chips off of a nearby rack, and then approaches the register.
The boy looks entirely human, but there's something a little left-of-center about him that makes you think he's probably a merman. He's got a Marinafinne colored vest on, his skin is very dark, and his hair is striped white and orange. He reminds you a little bit of a clown fish. One of his arms looks to have been amputated at the elbow.
He smiles at you while Beachwood rings him up.
"Hey, are you the transfer student from Night Raven College?" he asks.
You look him up and down, warily.
"Yeah, that's me."
"Is it true you destroyed the Aurarium dorms twice?"
"...Kind of?"
Oh god, this is gonna be the chandelier all over again. 'Wow, aren't you that one freshman who wreaks havoc, lives in a hovel, has no magic and might be the headmage's slave?'
The Marinafinne student beams.
"That must be a whale of a tale to tell!" he exclaims. "Do you think you'd be willing to come over to the Marinafinne table some time and tell it? We have this thing, it's called Fish Tales, where if you have an interesting story you can come over and tell it over a meal or, even sing it if you prefer, sometimes people do little puppet shows or dance it's great, we're always looking for anyone who has a good one to tell but this early in the year, it's usually just everyone's exploits over the break and those get a little gummy in the gills quick 'cause they're all vacation stories. But everyone's talking about the interesting gossip right now, having it from the seahorse's mouth would be incredible!"
You give the student another look up and down.
"Uh... you want me to come over to your table at dinner and tell you how I fucked up the dorm?" you check.
He nods excitedly.
Mermen can be tricky. This could be some kind of a setup. But you think he's probably sincere... even if that's the case though, you don't relish the idea of putting on a dinner show about your recent screw-ups.
"No thanks. I'm not much of a storyteller."
The boy deflates.
"Oh, please reconsider? I can help you if you're shy! I was nervous the first time I did it too but it wears off quickly, it's just so fun!" He has big eyes and one of those heart-shaped faces that makes you think of Riddle. Not that Riddle has ever looked at you that imploringly.
Leona comes up behind him.
In his very leonine way, he manages to make the innocuous act of bringing his purchases over to the register feel somewhat sinister. The Marinafinne boy is short, and Leona is not. He looms.
Slowly, the boy turns and looks up to see what's probably causing all of his hair to stand on end.
"Move," Leona says.
"Yessir!"
Quick as a flash, the kid's gone. He rejoins his gaggle of friends and then bolt out of the shop, just like a startled school of fish.
Leona huffs, then shoots you a glance.
"Why are your hands empty? Am I getting you ice cream or what? Grab your shit."
You dash over to the cooler and pick out a tasty treat, before heading back, and using your student discount to buy Leona's purchases for him. The cost is still not cheap, Leona's heaped up a few piles of essentials, some of which you suspect were pretty grudgingly accepted out of the available stock, and the school shops are never actually inexpensive. But it barely puts a dent in the contents of his wallet.
You note with some amusement that he's grabbed a couple cans of tuna. Grim will be happy.
The ice cream tastes smooth and refreshing as you juggle some of the bags, and try to get Leona to take his damn wallet back.
"You might as well hang onto it, I'm not going to bother buying anything myself here."
"I am not your porter, Leona. Take your damn money back."
"I might send you to buy me things."
"No, absolutely not! Watch your own wallet and run your own errands!"
"Aren't I your guest? The hospitality so far has been shit."
You put the wallet in one of the bags he's carrying. He gives you a supremely unimpressed look, which you return, before focusing on your ice cream again.
A sigh is heaved, as if you're the one being difficult.
It looks mostly the same as it did a few days ago, although it seems like some of the assorted contraptions and knickknacks have been swapped out with others. That could just be you misremembering things, though. Or possibly them moving around on their own, you wouldn't put it past them.
Headmage Ambrose LXIII stares benevolently at you from the other side of his desk. Professor Goodglen is standing off to one side of him, and your homeroom teacher, Professor Blanchard, is on the other. Goodglen looks concerned and Blanchard looks mad.
Grim is settled in your lap. On your left is Minajael Tealrajah, expression unreadable. On your right is Leona Kingscholar, sprawling in his seat with deliberate insouciance.
"Now I believe, wild rumors and speculation aside, that it would be best to hear your sides of this story before we proceed any further," Ambrose says.
You have to hand it to him, at least he is asking for explanations. Crowley probably would have supplied one and then acted on it by now, if only to save time.
You open your mouth to begin to explain. Minajael does as well, looking faintly pained.
But Leona beats you both to the punch.
"It was a friendly duel," he says.
You shut your mouth, and shoot him and incredulous look. But he doesn't glance in your direction, instead staring straight at the headmage.
Ambrose's eyebrows go up.
"Indeed?"
"Yup," Leona asserts. "I came here to visit my friend, and Tealrajah and I figured while we had a minute, we'd kill time with a good old fashioned wizard's duel. Got carried away. Sorry about that, you can bill my brother for the damages."
"Hmm," Ambrose replies.
"Goodness, is that how they do things over at Night Raven College?" Professor Goodglen asks, shaking his head. "You should have at least gotten someone on the faculty to supervise, and taken it to the dueling grounds rather than having at it just willy-nilly in the dormitories. Think of the damage!"
"He is very clearly lying," Professor Blanchard interjects, unimpressed.
The headmage's gaze moves between you and Minajael for a moment, before settling on Minajael.
"Prince Tealrajah, is this true?" he asks.
Say yes, you think, trying to will it into the guy's brain. You're not entirely sure why Leona is covering for everyone and sweeping it up but you are not going to look the gift horse in the mouth.
Minajael sucks in a breath, lets it out, and then shakes his head.
"No, Headmage, it's not," he says.
Dammit.
"Then what is your account of the situation?"
Minajael's gaze flits over to you, then Leona, then falls to his hands. He clears his throat. In your lap, Grim looks at him like he's crazy. You kind of don't blame Grim, although you know honesty really is an admirable trait. Shame it's also a big pain in the ass.
"Our new transfer student approached me after class and mentioned that Prince Leona had dropped by for an unexpected visit. Concerned about his ability to find suitable accommodations while Night Raven College is under lockdown, we went together to assess the situation. I was asked to stay behind, and overheard the two of them talking... in hindsight I suppose it was just friendly bickering? But at the time I suddenly felt sure that something sinister was going on, something beyond the pale on the part of Prince Leona. I don't know where the conviction came from. One moment I was calm, and then the next, I was confronting him in outrage."
Uh... what?
You blink at Minajael. His way of wording things feels a little formal and strange, but that's not what's bothering you. You've heard some nobles break out the Weird Formal Speech in a few places and times by now, the headmage's office doesn't seem like a weird place for it either. But is he saying that he himself doesn't know why he got so fired up all of a sudden?
And here you thought they just had sports guy beef...?
Leona looks a little surprised, too, if his quirked eyebrow is any indication.
"Prince Minajael, are you saying that you were afflicted with some sort of compulsion spell?" Professor Goodglen asks.
Minajael shakes his head.
"No, I would have felt someone cast that," he says. "There were some other Aurarium students around, but none of them were doing any spell casting. I also didn't imbibe any potions or touch anything that might have been cursed." He spreads his hands, in the universal gesture of 'that's all I've got'.
Ambrose LXIII hums again, and turns back to Leona.
"Prince Leona, you did not wish to address Prince Minajael's provocations?"
You guess Ambrose got some descriptions of the inciting incident from other students, if he knows there were provocations. You don't think 'confronted in outrage' implies a lot of specifics about. Uh. Yelling stuff.
Leona scoffs.
"What do I care about some trash talk? As far as I'm concerned, what happened is what I said happened."
The headmage looks at you.
"It seems we've two rather different descriptions of the situation. I think we require a bit more information, don't you?"
You hesitate.
If Leona's covering for you to be helpful, that's generous of him. But it's also possible he's downplaying things because he doesn't want it ballooning into some kind of political incident. You can't really tell, and you don't know enough about international relations between the Sunset Savannah and the Scalding Sands to venture any educated guesses. Much as you really don't care all that much about the nine thousand billion princes apparently around, you're not actually stupid enough to want to kick off a war or trade dispute between powerful families or something.
You think very briefly about mentioning the potential overblot situation, but... no. You don't know how Ambrose will react to that kind of thing. Minajael having a wild mood swing could match the pattern of an impending overblot, although usually people seem to understand their own thinking, even if it's more extreme than usual.
"Leona came over to visit. I asked Minajael to come along with me to talk with him, and while I was discussing some things with Leona, Minajael called out some... fighting words. They got pretty riled up, but it was obvious they weren't trying to hurt anyone. Minajael put his tiger in my room and Leona sealed the door. Unfortunately, they got a little carried away with the duel, so some of the students had to organize to distract them and break it up. I assisted with that."
Ambrose subjects you to a long assessing look.
You shrug.
"Sports guys, right?"
"Radiant Seven spare us from posturing jocks," Professor Blanchard murmurs.
Leaning back, Ambrose drums his fingers on the top of his desk.
"Well, Prince Minajael's unexplained bout of possession is concerning, and will merit some further investigation. But you're all at the age where passions can burn hot and misunderstandings are very commonplace. Since Prince Leona is amenable to covering the damages, I don't see any need for stringent measures such as expulsion or suspension."
"Ya could expel us," Grim suggests, pointing between the two of you. "We'd call it even!"
You shush him. Mostly because staying at Royal Sword Academy is probably still nicer than camping out in the woods on Sage Island somewhere, trying to forage for mushrooms and waiting until the college is accessible again.
Headmage Ambrose LXIII genially ignores the interruption.
"To make up for the irresponsibility of damaging the dorms, I think it would be best if the three of you volunteer to assist with the clean up and repairs after classes. It will build character, and remind you of the effort that goes into the pleasant environs that we enjoy at this school." He gestures to yourself, Grim, and Minajael.
You nod in agreement. That sounds fair, although you keep yourself braced for a 'but' or an 'and'. You're still waiting for the shoe to drop about Grim's rampage. He hasn't brought it up again, and the longer it goes unmentioned, the more worried you are about why he's keeping it in his back pocket to spring on you unexpectedly.
Minajael nods as well, though he still looks distracted.
Ambrose turns to Leona.
"Now, on to the matter of Prince Leona. Ordinarily as you are not enrolled at Royal Sword Academy, I would recommend your highness vacate the premises and reserve visits for weekend daytime hours, as per the academy rules. But given the situation at Night Raven College seems rather volatile, and accommodations on the island can at times be sparse, it seems in-keeping with the spirit of inter-school friendship to permit you to stay. At least until our sister college's difficulties have resolved."
Leona blinks.
"...Thanks," he says.
Ambrose smiles.
"Unfortunately, the ancient protections on the school make it rather challenging to officially assign housing to non-students and non-staff. I shall leave the matter of sorting out guest accommodations to you and your friends, but I'm certain that there will be any number of students with an extra bunk who will be delighted to offer it to a member of the Kingscholar royal family. After all, King Falena is one of our most popular living alumni!"
Leona's expression turns carefully blank.
Shit. At this rate you might seriously end up sleeping on your floor.
The four of you are dismissed from the office. Minajael hesitates at the threshold, but then frowns and moves ahead of you, walking faster down the hall. Suri is waiting at the end of it. You think he might mean to just ditch you and Leona as quickly as possible, and you're not sure you'd blame him for it. But then he stops and turns and glares at you both like he's trying to burn holes in your skulls.
Leona doesn't even seem to notice beyond a telltale ear twitch. He pulls out his phone and pays attention to that instead.
Just when you think it's gonna be up to you to try and burst the awkwardness bubble, Minajael plants his hands on his hips.
"Okay," he says. "I don't think you were setting me up."
Leona snorts.
"How would we be setting you up with your own damn temper?" he asks, not looking up from his phone.
Minajael's expression turns exasperated.
"By luring me to the dorm and then putting some kind of compulsion spell somewhere so that I'd go after you and look like the instigator," he says.
"And why would I want to do that?"
"I don't know. That's one of the reasons I think you didn't," Minajael allows. "The other is that you didn't capitalize on it, even though you could have. Plus... I just don't get that impression off of either of you."
"So, you really don't know what came over you?" you ask.
Minajael shakes his head.
"If I could track it to any possible source, I would think it was a magical influence. People have tried to stick me under those before and I know what they feel like," he admits. "But that's why I'm careful about them. I would have noticed that kind of spell, and I would have tasted that kind of potion. I have charms to set off warnings if I get too close to that sort of magic."
He gestures to one of his necklaces.
You put Grim down, and he mirrors your body language as you tap your chin thoughtfully.
"Have you been using a lot of magic lately?" you ask. "Working really hard, stressing yourself out, fixating on competitions or personal goals or dwelling a lot on something...?"
Leona glances at you sideways.
Minajael is quick.
"You think I'm at risk of overblotting?" he asks. "Suri said as much."
Ah. You didn't know the tiger could talk.
...Can the tiger talk?
Is this some kind of magical mind-link situation?
Question for another day, probably.
"Well... are you?" you ask. Not much point in beating around the bush now.
"Of course not. I know there's been rumors of it happening over at Night Raven College, but that sort of stress and overuse of magic is really rare, and completely unheard-of at Royal Sword Academy. There are safeguards and lots of oversight to make sure no one abuses their magic to that extent."
Hmm.
Grim draws in a breath and you slip a hand over his mouth. You've got a feeling he's about to mention the blot stone out of defensiveness towards NRC, and you really don't want him outing his little misadventure to anybody just yet. Especially not when you're right outside the headmage's office.
He subsides, and you just nod instead.
"If it's not that, then, could it be someone's unique magic?" you wonder. "Would that be harder to track?"
Minajael's eyes widen.
"Unique magic would be, yes," he agrees. "Although the caster would still have to get close enough to use it."
"Assuming you'd know their range," Leona interjects. "Could be anything as simple as line of sight."
"Or they could attach it to an object, like a curse without triggering the same warnings as one."
"Or the ability could make a guy forget it's been used on him!" Grim suggests.
"Unique magic's a real pain in the ass," you mutter.
Minajael has the look of someone who has just discovered a massive hole in his safety net. Which you do feel kind of bad about. Accounting for unique magic really is difficult, it's one of the reasons why that magic can also be so valuable. It doesn't have to abide by the same rules and restrictions as normal spells.
Leona makes a frustrated noise, and you glance over, but he doesn't seem to still be focused on the conversation about Minajael's lost temper.
Instead he actually does seem to be focused on his phone now.
"Ruggie's not answering me," he says.
"Did he finally unionize?" you wonder.
"He should have answered by now," Leona insists, ignoring your jab in a way that makes you think he's genuinely worried.
You pull out your own phone and find that you've got... a lot of messages waiting for you. Rather than sift through them all and risk missing something, you text Jack.
No response.
You text him again, and are about to go through those messages after all when you get notified of an incoming request from Jack for facetime.
You accept, of course.
"Uh..." you say, blinking at a lot of fur and angry eyes fills the screen. "Jack? Why are you Beast Mode?"
Leona leans over your shoulder to look at your screen. Grim hops up to do the same, and after a moment of hesitation, Minajael moves over to look too.
Jack huffs.
"Savanaclaw's been cursed," he says.
"...Guessing the kissing booths didn't work?"
Another, longer, gustier huff is your answer.
"Kalim agreed to try kissing everyone," he says, which provokes a slightly strained cough from Minajael.
"That was very nice of him," you say. "Did Jamil have a heart attack?"
"Yeah. And it didn't work."
"That sucks. But if Savanclaw's cursed, shouldn't you be furniture?"
"The others are furniture. I'm like this."
"Hmm. Kind of breaks the pattern," you note. "Twice over, actually. When Heartslabyul got cursed, they were trying to cure Diasmonia. I assumed the attempted cure backfired onto them when it failed and that's why they got cursed too. But if that was the case, and Kalim was the one trying to break the curse with kisses, then Scarabia should have been affected when he failed. Right? And unlike Malleus and Riddle, you're not the housewarden, so why are you the one stuck in beastly form...?"
"Actually, I am housewarden," Jack tells you.
You blink, and then glance at Leona.
Leona rolls his eyes at you.
"Of course he is. I can't be housewarden and do an internship away from the school for most of the year. Keep up," he says.
Right, right.
"But, then, is Malleus still head of Diasomnia...?"
"Technically yes. The other replacements haven't been decided yet. With the lockdown there's no need yet, and then with the curse there's been a lot else going on," Jack explains. "But Leona left day one, so Savanaclaw had to sort it out right away."
"Congratulations? I mean, congratulations! Second year and housewarden, that makes you another prodigy, right? Good job, Jack!"
Jack does not look enthused, but given the situation, you can't really blame him. The screen's close to his face but you do think his tails is wagging just a bit though, from the movement of his fur.
"Yeah well it doesn't mean much when the house is cursed like this," he says.
"Nobody's going to be able to practice or compete if their bodies are transformed," Leona agrees. "This kind of thing hits Savanaclaw harder than other houses."
Minajael tilts his head.
"Not to eavesdrop," he says. "But if the curse isn't spreading from backlash, and there isn't a discernible pattern of instigation from actions or contact with particular objects, then it's likely that whatever's spreading it is a person or creature."
"You think someone's doing it on purpose?" you wonder.
Jack growls.
"Sabotage," Leona guesses. "One of the other houses trying to take out the competition."
Gee, wonder where he'd get that idea from.
But it doesn't mean he's wrong.
"If someone's doing this... then I can beat the crap out of them," Jack decides. The hints of off-screen tail wagging get stronger.
"That might not be the best idea," Minajael interjects.
"Who's this guy?"
"He's... Kalim's cousin. He goes to Royal Sword Academy," you settle for saying.
Jack seems to accept the answer as good enough.
"Okay, Kalim's cousin. If this is a person's doing, why shouldn't we catch them and tear them apart?"
"Because if it's strong enough to curse everyone who has been cursed and keep it going this long, it can probably turn you into a big pile of ash and wolf bones without too much trouble," Leona supplies.
You all pause to consider the prospect of a mystery entity that's cursed three whole houses, Malleus, and Lilia, without being discovered by anyone so far.
"If it's a person or a beast, they gotta want somethin' right?" Grim says. "Like tribute or revenge or respect! Or maybe they wanna go to the school and the headmage told them to buzz off. So now they're cursin' everybody an' won't let up until he changes his mind!"
"Could be," you allow. Actually it's not likely, since even most Night Raven students don't quite have Grim's determination to attend the school. But you're not going to tell him that. "Asking Crowley if there's anyone who might have a grudge couldn't hurt, right?"
"I guess it's a possibility we haven't explored," Jack allows.
When Suri the tiger wanders over to also try and peer curiously at your phone, though, you decide this hallway's getting a little too cramped for all of these conversations.
"You should go ask him. I'll call you back later, okay?" you suggest.
"Wait a minute," Jack says. "Why is Leona at Royal Sword Academy? Shouldn't he be in--"
Leona hits the End Call button on your phone.
You give him an unimpressed look.
"What? He needs to focus on breaking that curse," he says.
It’s always “we need more elven men in love with mortal women” so can we make some noise for gentle and caring Mithrim Sinda Annael in unrequited love with suicidally depressed eight months pregnant tenderhearted poet Rian and raising her baby and passing down what she shared of her music in her memory after he can’t save her. Or am I alone out here
Bookbinding: How Dare You!? / Cheng He Ti Tong by Qi Ying Jun
I also made this for @spockandawe for an exchange! But I wanted to bind it myself, too. Would you believe I made it halfway through this novel before realizing it was by the same author as Are You OK? (the author's name is different on different platforms I guess?) I was like "this author's doing some very neat stuff with transmigration ... hey, wait a sec!"
Since the concept of this novel is transmigrating into a transmigration novel, I made a triple-layer cutout cover. The outermost cover is the "original" novel, followed by the in-universe transmigration novel, and finally the actual novel, where instead of a proper cover design it gets a hastily-written* sharpie title on note paper.
I was going to put more colors in the endbands and fewer in the splatter-painted edges, but it turns out if you only use brown paint for splattered edges ... even if it is a very nice brown in other contexts ... it looks like the book is moldy. So I added some blue too and at that point I thought a multicolored endband would be too much.
My laser printer can't print to the edges of the pages, so for the floral background, I printed just the border on my inkjet printer, and then printed the text of those specific pages afterwards.
There is a typographical easter egg! If you've read the novel, you can see if you can figure it out (it's present on one of the pages pictured here).
*actually I wrote it it about ten times before getting a version I liked enough to use
origamiaround
ellievsbear
tangentwithtanner
