Rising Shards

The exterior of the third campus dorm hadn’t changed at all since the Wildfire Hearts students moved in, but the atmosphere was definitely different. The building was basically the same layout as the other dorms, but it felt more sinister somehow. Maybe not truly sinister, it was just students and some faculty from another school, but it was the rival school, and one that had done enough to Rising Shards to warrant at least some foreboding feelings.

“This is so like a stealth spy mission from our show,” Iris said. "We are infiltrating Wildfire Hearts."

“It’s not technically Wildfire Hearts,” Maia said. “It’s still our school.”

“Technically? No. Basically? Oh, yeah. Syval, you ever been to the new Wildfire Hearts?”

"A bit, yeah," Syval said.

"Ugh, this has to go to Corinani," Iris said as she looked over the cube-shaped box that Penteldtam asked them to deliver. "If I knew that I wouldn't have agreed to this."

"Aw, Corinani's not so bad," Syval said. "She's just..."

"Really pathetic?" Maia said.

"Yeah..." Syval said. "Still, she's interesting. What other teacher ties her own shoes together and tries to frame a student for it? And fails because everyone saw her tie her shoes together? And you get something like that daily with her."

"How boring is Falling Shards that Corinani's someone that brightens your day?" Iris asked.

"Pretty boring," Syval said.

Maia couldn't tell if Falling Shards was seriously this dull or if Syval was just going through something and was blaming it all on his boring school.

"She brought us into the void to scam her boss a bit ago," Iris said. "Maybe you should follow her around if you want some excitement."

"She really did that?" Syval asked.

"Yeah, it was one of those void nodes that's like slightly weird, like the water was all microchips or whatever," Maia said.

"You at least get some cool void trips, don't you?" Iris asked.

"I'd say they've been pretty average," Syval said.

Iris subtly grabbed Maia's sleeve so Syval took the lead, then sent a quick text. Iris could text faster than just about anyone Maia had ever seen, which meant a lot of mid-class messages. She was speedy enough that even when a teacher caught her she could argue that she wouldn't have had time to send anything, and that tactic sometimes worked. Sure enough, after a split second, Maia had a text from her.

"syvals kinda boring," Iris texted.

"You're the one who invited him," Maia sent back.

"and???????????"

"And we were just saying how bored we were right before this. So I dunno. he's trying, I guess. He's not like a Kris Krag or anything. We could make an effort too, maybe he's hiding a cool side."

"doubt itttttttt"

"So, Syval," Maia said. "You want to...hold the box?"

"That's making an effort?" Iris said, promptly getting the back of her shoe kicked by Maia.

"Huh?" Syval said. "Sure, I guess."

Maia handed him the box, and he turned it around and shook it a little.

"I bet this is a mug," Syval said. "I took a mug making class, and every mug we made would fit perfectly into a box of this size and shape."

"Do they have mug making over on the Falling side of things?" Iris asked.

"No, this was at the," Syval coughed. "...the community center. I volunteer there sometimes."

"That's pretty cool," Maia said, not wanting to make the guy feel bad. It was a legitimately cool thing, too.

"What other classes do they have? Something cooler than mug making, surely?" Iris asked, putting enough of an attempt in to sound nice that it kind of worked, as Syval lit up a bit getting to talk about it.

"Oh, yeah! It's mainly an elderly facility, but it's got programs for everyone," Syval said. "First, there's the baseball team, then..."

Syval was a lot more pleasant talking about something he liked rather than how boring his school was, even Iris paid attention to his pitch about a model kit making class.

"Dang," Iris said. "I kinda wanna volunteer now, too."

"We don't have the time," Maia said, trying not to just say she very much did not want that added to her schedule.

But...they were just saying how bored they were before they got roped into this.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to add one thing, Maia thought. At least until club starts up again. Or if the filming thing ever goes anywhere.

Interrupting any thoughts that volunteering might be kinda nice was a group of four arriving.

"Ugh, here we go," Maia said.

Their visitors were led by Ovie, who had her typical sneer on, and Iris and Maia sighed, guessing the four would not be as helpful as Syval about the delivery.

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