Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The high pitched screech of the school bell always caused the students to flinch. To Visage it only registered as a muffled whine. He held his head up high and kept his wings unfolded.
Floating down the school hall, the steel of his claws trailed against the floor, leaving light scratch marks in the floor. Visage huffed, his cold breath visible. The janitors could deal with that later - right now there was business to attend to.
Casting a look to the staff room, he regarded Mars, his subordinary. The vice principal shouldered his way through the door, and Visage narrowed an eye at the sight of his coffee mug adorned with incomprehensible logos. Mars didn’t seem to notice as he raised the eyesore up toward him.
“Morning, big boss!” He called out, voice booming. Visage stifled a sniff.
“Mars.” He dipped his head politely, turning away and continuing down his path.

Students were corralled like sheep into the school gym. Their teachers had plastered themselves to the walls, counting heads while barking orders, their voices only barely reaching above the chatter in the halls.
Visage picked up his pace and grew satisfied as he saw the students before him split apart, shoving and pulling each other to the side. Visage lowered his proud gaze when his hind leg hit something in front of him with a dull thud. At his feet, a small satyr looked wide eyed up at him, clutching one of the straps of his bag with both hands. Visage crinkled his nose, looking back into the gym. He reared back and pushed himself into the air, not minding as the crowd all ducked under his powerful wings.

Visage landed on the podium set up in the centre, causing the cheap paper decorations to billow out. He watched, still as a gargoyle, while the last remainders of the herd from the halls spilled into the gym. Once they had all taken their seats, he gave his wings a hard flap and gripped the sides of the wooden podium, raising his head. To his sides, the teachers of the school began to line up.
“I would like to welcome you all back.” Visage spoke with authority, slowly scanning the crowd in front of him.
“While I know that the end of summer vacation strikes dread into the hearts of many of you, I still hope you’re all as excited about another prosperous school year as I am.”
From the mass of students, he was met with several half hearted claps, but it didn’t phase him and he only rolled his shoulders.
“Though you may find some things to be slightly different this year, rest assured that it’s … nothing to worry for.”
His ears twitched as he heard whispers.
“Oi! Be quiet ya twits!” The outposting coach’s rough voice cut through the mutterings. Visage flicked his tail to silence him.
“Regardless, I’m certain that all of you will continue to make DotA High the pride of our town!”
With that, he reared back with another flap of his massive wings and propelled himself from the podium. His claws skidded across the floor, the noise deafening the scattered rounds of applause from the crowd.
Visage set for his office, but before he could leave the gym, a shrill voice caught his attention. He whipped around and felt a snarl creep across his snout as he saw who was approaching him.
“Visage!” The English teacher’s voice raked his ear drums like claws against a chalkboard, but he held his ground.
“What do you want, Razor?” Visage’s huge tail swept across the floor, nearly knocking over a set of passing students.
“Tell me why Mars is harping on about my chess club being discontinued!”
He felt his scales ripple at this incessant whining. He took a deep breath and lowered his head level to that hideous mask.
“Why don’t you worry more about doing your job, hm?”
Blocking out the rest of his subordinate’s pathetic shrieking, he turned away and lifted his head again, strutting down the hall toward his office. As he examined the bustling corridors, he bared his teeth in a grin.
Another prosperous year indeed!

Chapter Text

The door gave a loud bang as Mars shoved it open. Several students jumped away in shock, but quickly scurried along. The Vice Principal stepped out, with a faint clicking of hooves following behind him.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Riki.” Mars droned as he scanned the hallway, eyes sharp under his bushy red brows.
“We’ve got all kinds of kids here, fitting in should be a breeze for you...”
Mars turned to look down at the boy. He was peering out into the hallway, brow creased and eyes wide. Mars looked back up, and cracked into a wide smile. The answers to his prayers just so happened to stalk right by.
“Hey! You three!” He snapped, pointing directly at a band of students clad in studded leather jackets and dark makeup. They stopped, swapping glances between each other before shuffling over.
“Congratulations! You’ve just been given the privilege of showing the new kid around!” Mars announced as he nudged the boy toward them. The other three recoiled.
“You’re joking right?”
“Is that an actual sweater vest?”
“Sir this isn’t fa-“
“That’s an order!” Mars roared before he turned around and stormed back into his office. The three punks regarded Riki, before turning their gazes upwards, walking away with the trembling satyr in tow.

Riki puffed under the weight of his bag as he tried to keep up. Two of his assigned “friends” walked ahead, more engrossed in their own conversation, leaving him trailing at the back with the scruffy rodent who was eyeing him curiously.
“Ey new boy.” The rat nodded at him, his gravelly voice easily cutting through the chatter bouncing off the cramped walls.
“Name’s Meepo.” He ran a paw through the thick grouping of half matted fur on his head. Bringing the paw forwards, he pointed to the fairy and troll in front of them.
“An’ those two bozos are Mireska and Rhasta.”
“Oi!” Mireska turned to shoot Meepo a playful glare before resuming her conversation with Rhasta.
Riki forced out a nervous laugh.
“It’s...it’s nice to meet you.” He extended his hand to Meepo, who only raised a brow at him. Riki swallowed hard and pulled it away, returning his gaze to his hooves.
Meepo tilted his head.
“What’s ya deal, anyway?”
“Excuse me?” Riki furrowed his brow as he looked back over at the rat.
“Like, did ya parents go bankrupt and that’s why ya’re in this dump?”
“Wh...no, I-“
Suddenly the hall was filled with the sound of hollering. A pack of four swaggering boys all decked out in matching letterman jackets had blocked the path down the hall. Before anyone could react, the boy in the steel helmet lunged forward.
“Out of the way, freaks,” He snarled as he grabbed Mireska by the collar of her coat and shoved her sideways. The fairy slammed into a locker with a yelp, and Meepo and Rhasta immediately darted to her side. Riki froze in terror as another troll, way larger than Rhasta, towered over him.
“You heard him. Get lost!”
His voice was edged with a warning. Riki wasted no time in scampering to the other side, and the group of jocks howled with laughter.
“Nice one, Sven! Wouldn’t wanna catch Creepmydia off those weirdos!” The smallest of the boys shouted, wagging his little tail. The largest one let out a bellowing laugh.
“AXE IS HAPPY TO BE BACK IN SCHOOL WITH BROS!”
The pack trounced down the hall, shouldering past a group of girls and almost barrelling them over in the process.
“Watch it, Rylai!” Sven’s mocking holler rang out as they turned the corner.

Rylai flicked her hair and scowled down the hallway.
“Ugh! They’re such dumb immature boys!” She scoffed, shaking her head and turning back to her friends.
“Oui?” Mortred pulled up to her side, one corner of her lip turning up.
“Even Sven?”
Rylai whipped around to glare at her, but Mortred didn’t flinch, instead her grin widened. By Rylai’s other side, Lyralei pursed her lips and began to glance quickly up and down the corridor. Her expression quickly changed when she spotted a hunched shape reaching into a locker. Quick as a flash, she nudged both Mortred and Rylai.
“Forget about boys!” The two other girls followed her gaze, mischievous smirks forming on their faces once they saw their mark. Heels clicking, they marched down the corridor and stopped in front of a small troll. He jumped as he turned to look at them.
“Good morning, Dazzle!” Rylai sneered right into the boy’s face. Dazzle recoiled with a wheeze and his eyes darted down to his bag leaning against his feet. Rylai snapped her fingers and Dazzle knelt down, rummaging frantically until he stood back up with four bright pink coupons in his trembling hand. Rylai hungrily snatched them.
“Later, weirdo! Make sure to have us booked in ASAP!” Lyralei called as they turned away, cackling. While they left the shaking mess to get back to his books, Mortred scowled at the spare coupon she was holding.
“Where is Ai, anyway?” She asked, scanning the crowds of students bustling around.
Rylai curled her lip.
“Probably off filming that vlog or whatever...” Her expression only darkened further, and she scoffed as they passed by boys deep in a card game.

“Surrender now, Carl! For I hath been training all Summer for this day!” One of the boys announced, placing both his hands on the floor and giving the blonde sitting across from him an arrogant grin. Carl merely pushed his round glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose.
“Oh please, Magina,” He sniffed.
“No amount of training will ever compare to my immense IQ!”
Magina’s smirk turned into a frown while he drew a card from his deck, placing it face down on the floor. Now it was Carl’s turn to smirk at him, placing a card of his own down. Before Magina could plan his next move, he noticed a shadow drop over him.
Turning around and looking up, he recognised the golden hair and bright blue eyes of Purist Chuck.
“Ah, sir!” Magina beamed up at him,
“Come to watcheth me give Carl a drubbing he shalt not soon forget?”
Chuck narrowed his blazing eyes to near slits.
“Watch you? Watch you?!” The teacher’s voice rapidly increased in volume.
“You expect me to stand here and watch you play those Devil’s cards?!”
Magina and Carl shared looks between each other, but Chuck continued, not even minding the uncomfortable stares of students around them.
“You’re both going to hell! God is watching you worship these false idols!”
Chuck’s voice rose to an ear shattering roar, and Magina and Carl had had enough. They quickly scrambled to their feet, sending their cards flying in the process, and sprinted off down the hall. Chuck remained in his place, breathing heavily. His fists were squeezed so tight that white spots dotted his knuckles. He jolted at the feeling of hands gently gripping his shoulders and spun around to be face to face with a broader man clad in a tacky, half damp, cardboard helmet.
“It’s okay, Chuck...” The man began, but Chuck was having none of it.
“This school is full of sinners, Chen! It needs to be cleansed!” He spat, making his colleague flinch away.
“If it weren’t for me you-“
Chuck promptly cut himself off, his piercing eyes falling onto the black clad group of miscreants sauntering past them. He curled his lip in a disgusted sneer and Chen tried to mimic this, only making himself sneeze in the process.

“Oh, bless-“ Riki was about to comment on the teacher’s sneeze, but was interrupted by a jab from Meepo. The rat shook his head as Riki looked back at him.
“Word of advice: try not to get on Chuck’s radar.” Rhasta drawled from in front of him. Riki was about to ask why, but the sound of Mireska’s outraged cry cut him off. He fanned out alongside the other punks who had gathered around a bright red notice on the board. His jaw dropped when he read the white lettering.
“MUSIC CLASS CANCELLED”
“Are they actually takin’ the piss?!” The fairy snarled.
“They have to be...” Meepo flattened his ears and furrowed his brow.
Riki examined the map that Mars had given him, noticing one of the room names had been hastily scribbled out. Meepo snatched the map from his hands and the punks huddled around it, their angry voices merging into a cacophony of rage.
Amidst the noise, Riki heard a snicker and turned to his left. A red haired girl was standing with a flyer in her hand, watching them with her eyes narrowed thoughtfully and her mouth upturned in a small smile. He raised his hand in a stiff wave, but the girl simply turned away and went back to pinning up her posters.

Lina took a step back after taping the last poster to the wall, admiring the lettering poised perfectly on the sheet. She gave a satisfied sniff and placed her hands on her hips. Taking another look around, she watched the other students bustling around her.
“This election is in the bag this year,” She announced to nobody in particular.
“So long as she doesn’t....”
Her voice trailed off and she turned back around to smooth out the tape on the corner of the page, when suddenly a gust of wind pushed her forward. Letting out a growl, she whipped around to see two of the popular boys rushing past her.
“Hey! No flying in the-” Lina began to yell, but they had already darted off into the crowds.

“I'm so fly it should be a crime!” Dragonus rapped as he hovered over the mass of students, swooping down the hall and keeping his eye trained on the phone in Wukong’s hands. His simian friend was shouldering people aside, beads of sweat matting his fur as he attempted to keep up.
“My rhymes are nothing to drive by!”
Dragonus kept up his flow. He flashed a smile.
“Because I make your mama cry.”
He was so engrossed in spitting bars and in the shine of the camera lens that he didn’t watch where his wings were taking him. The air was knocked out of his lungs when he suddenly stumbled into the girl in front of him, sending talons screeching against the linoleum floor.
Shendelzare let out a yelp at the sudden force that almost bowled her over, and the stack of flyers in her hands scattered all across the hallway. A frown crossed her face, but it was gone in a flash when she got to her feet and looked into her assailant’s sparkling cerulean eyes. Dragonus just brushed his blonde fringe out of his eyes, flapped his wings and kept going, his exhausted friend in tow. Shendel watched them for a few seconds with her jaw wide open, before bending down to pick up the papers now strewn about the floor.
Her short, elven friend rushed up to her.
“Are you okay?” she asked, joining in grabbing the loose flyers. Shendel couldn’t stop herself from letting out a squeal.
“Traxex did you SEE the way he looked at me?!” She bounced on her knees.
“I can’t belieeeeve that just happened!!”
Behind her, Traxex pouted and rolled her eyes, then began to search for a flyer that had gone flying further than the others.
The lost piece of paper fell slowly to the feet of another group decked out in lettermans. The one in front, a short and stocky girl, knelt down and scooped it up.
“Watcha got there, Tresdin?” One of the three surrounding boys peered through the slits of his wooden mask.
Tresdin only laughed and shook her head as she read the text.
“Want some class in your life? Join Poetry Club this Friday!”
The boys burst out into raucous laughter around her, and she crumpled the page in her hands.
“Man I hate nerds,” Tresdin cackled, throwing the ball of paper behind her.

The ball bounced off the wall and found its rest in the ginger hair of a centaur girl. She was skipping down the hall on spindly hooves, talking excitedly to the video camera she was pointing at herself.
“So since my last update, I’ve been just sooo excited to get back to school! I’ve missed hanging out with my friends and Rylai and the girls more than anything!” She nattered away, pausing to take a sip of her green smoothie while making sure to get the metal straw in frame.
Her long ears flicked as she noticed the two men putting up colourful posters outside the history classroom.
“Oh my god! I even missed my teachers!” She announced in a high pitched giggle, raising her smoothie to wave at them.
“Hi Raijin! Hi Razor!”
Raijin turned to see the girl greeting him from across the way, a broad smile forming on his face as he regarded her.
“Good morning, Ai! You certainly got a zip in your step,” he called back with a tip of his hat. Ai returned her attention back to her camera, and Raijin looked up at his companion.
“It sure is good to be back, isn’t it?”
Razor let out a whine from under his helmet. A dark, moody cloud hung lowly above his head, and the air seemed colder around him.
“Don’t even start! You know I have a headache.” He hunched his shoulders and pointed at the paper, adorned with a cartoon kitten hanging off a tree, clutched in his gloved hand.
“This is already torture, helping you put up these ludicrous posters.”
Raijin gave him a comforting pat on the arm.
“Oh brighten up! I’m sure you’ll feel better once you get some coffee into you!”
He gently tugged on the taller man’s sleeve and they began to move toward the staff room, passing by two brooding demon students clad in black. They were leaning against the wall with their arms crossed and cold expressions on their faces. Raijin gave them a hearty good morning, which they did not return.
The taller of the pair of miscreants snorted while observing the two teachers. With a smirk, he turned to his companion and gave her a nudge.
“Check it out, Akasha, the loser patrol is on the prowl.”
Akasha let out a small chuckle, revealing sharp fangs behind her painted lips, and relaxed her posture slightly. In that same moment, a fat dragon toad came bounding down the hall and stopped in front of them, wagging its massive tail.
Akasha turned to look at her friend, whose aloof smirk had turned into a bright, happy grin . The feathers at the top of his wings shuttered as he knelt down to scratch the amphibian beast under its giant head. The creature let out an excited bark before leaping up and galloping on, passing by two girls in matching outfits who let out angry hisses at it, then on past a very rotund feline boy, who stood huffing in offense at the notice board.

Lion glared with a bitter pout as he read the obnoxious statements on his classmate’s election poster. He got out his phone clad in a skull case, snapping a photo of it while a mocking smile crept across his flabby cheeks. He turned at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him, to see Lanaya holding a notepad and pen, her sharp eyes regarding him curiously.
“Hm? What do you want?” He snarled with a grunt, feeling his spikes prickle. The girl scribbled something on her page before looking back up at him.
“What’s this, Lion? Do you have any statements to make about the candidate?” She asked, a playful glint in her curious voice. She gestured to the poster.
“Ngheh! Leave me alone!!” Lion shouted with fury, pulling the collar of his long trench coat and whirling around to storm as quickly as his stubby legs could go, passing by two gangly, drably dressed teachers clasping half burnt cigarettes in their claws.
“I tell you, Grimstroke.” The banshee droned as she batted her tired eyes at a poster reminding its viewers to stay positive.
“It only gets more insufferable every year.”
Krobelus took a long drag of her cigarette while her colleague ran a thin hand past his ornate mask and through his long, sleek white hair.
“It honestly pains the soul to be forced to mingle with such...such plebeians once more!” He grumbled in response. They cast unamused looks down the hall, before quickly stubbing their smokes out when they saw the broad frame of Mars approaching.

The Vice Principal rolled his eyes as he walked past them, taking a sip of his coffee. Older students knew to get out of his way and quickly darted to the side, while the freshmen stared up at him, awestruck. Mars kept his bored stare focused on his office at the end of the hall, but that expression quickly changed when he saw what was awaiting him.
Standing outside his door were the three bothersome punks he had sent off, along with the new kid. They stared him down with narrowed eyes and fists clenched. Mars could only sigh in irritation as he beckoned them in, shutting the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Riki kept his arms tucked close to his body and his gaze stayed rooted to his hooves, while he followed his new ‘friends’ as they stormed down the hall. In front of him, the gravelly and shrill voices of Meepo and Mireska drowned out the surrounding ambience.
“This is such bullshit!” Meepo snarled. Riki felt the slight breeze from the kobold’s whip-like tail lashing. The satyr jumped and looked up as something lightly batted him across the face.
“He’s jus’ become Visage’s bitch!” Mireska retorted, sharply, not even looking behind her as she flared her long wings. Riki suppressed a sigh and turned his head to Rhasta. His pale eyes were glazed over and his shoulders sagged while he silently trudged along beside his friends. Riki racked his brain for something, anything, to say to any of them. He opened his mouth, but he could only manage a barely audible stammer, which the others didn’t even seem to notice.
Tail drooping, he kept his head down and just listened while they ranted and raved ahead of him.

The group approached one of the stairways in a quieter, more secluded hallway. Riki let his arms relax as the dim lighting gave him a chance to collect his bearings. He watched for a second while the three outcasts tossed their bags and crawled behind a gap under the stairs. Casting one more look around, Riki wondered if he should join them, before shaking his head and following suit. Not even needing to duck all that much as he squeezed through the gap, he noticed the spandrel widening into a small nook.

Cobwebs and dust decorated the corners, but Meepo quickly swept them away with his bare arm, leaving chalky, dark grey stains on his white fur. Riki looked over some of the scribblings on the wall, a couple of symbols unfamiliar to him along with crude doodles. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to examine them, as Mireska slumped against the wall, crossing her legs with a pout and continuing her ranting.
“It’s the same shite all over again!” She whined. Riki’s ear twitched as the other two grumbled their agreements.
“I honestly thought Mars would be with us on this...” Rhasta sighed, settling down beside the fairy. The softness of his voice in comparison to those of his friends still caught Riki off guard. In another corner, Meepo gave a huff while he curled himself into a ball.
“I dunno what I expected,” he spat.
“Mars is just another cog in the system. Of course he’s not gonna care!”
Riki drummed his fingers together, still stuck for anything he could add to their grievances. He took a deep breath and shakily interjected.
“I...I signed up for those music classes,” His tail bushed out when all sets of eyes were on him.
“Uh...so that...sucks?”
He noticed Mireska raise a brow at him while she leaned forward.
“I wouldn’t have pegged someone like ye for a musical type.” She noted gruffly, and raked her disapproving green eyes over him. Riki felt his heart drop a bit, but he steeled his nerves, hoping to break the ice.
“Well, I’ve played the piano since I was-“
“Hey, freaks!”

Riki quickly turned back toward the entrance to the nook and his blood ran cold. Staring in through the gap were the four large boys from earlier. He jumped when Meepo immediately began to shout at them.
“Ey! Get lost!” Meepo puffed his fur out and pounded the ground with his fist. The jocks only laughed in response, leaning in further and making Riki cower.
“You losers left a blood-trail of nerd!” The smallest of the jocks jeered. Most of his face was hidden under a mop of wavy, unruly hair, except for his wide, sharp toothed grin. Rhasta stirred on Riki’s other side, glaring daggers at the gnollish boy.
“Shut up, Strygwyr!” He snarled, attempting to lower his voice. Strygwyr only laughed harder,
“Yeah you keep trying to sound tough!”
Rhasta’s face noticeably turned a darker shade of gold and he looked down at the ground, scowling fiercely. Riki furrowed his brow in confusion, but Mireska’s screech jolted him,
“Jus’ fuck off already!”
Her eyes were narrowed to near slits at the jock in the steel helmet holding a can, Sven as Riki had heard earlier. He merely let out a menacing chuckle.
“Or what? Are you gonna cry about it, weirdo?” His voice was muffled under the mask, but that didn’t make his tone any less unnerving. He proceeded to crush the can he was holding and then chucked it at the fairy, who pathetically tried to bat it away to no avail.
“Guys come on, this is dumb.” The ginger troll huffed from his position, leaning against the wall. “They’re just gonna snitch on us.”
Sven glowered through the holes of his mask.
“Then let them.”
Next to him, Strygywr broke into a howl of a laugh.
“What’s that Huskar? Scared of getting in trouble with your dumb loser parents?” He bounced back on his paws and slapped the troll across the arm, which earned him a hard shove in return, and Riki tried to make himself smaller in the hopes that he would just fade into the walls. The red giant gleefully bellowed.
“AXE LOVES LAUGHING AT FREAKS!!”

The jocks’ hollering was interrupted by the sound of something heavy scraping along the floor, along with heavy paw steps on the linoleum. Riki’s skin crawled further, and he turned to look at Mireska who let out a despairing groan. The jocks had broken out into wider grins, looking over at the source of the noise.
“Hey, Coach Rigwarl.”
“Awright fellas! Wot are me star players up to?” A very gruff voice resonated from outside the nook.
“AXE LAUGHS WITH BROS!”
Riki felt himself recoil when a grody, hunchbacked figure lurched into the frame of the gap. The coach’s sharp bristles lifted slightly as he followed their stares into the nook, where the punks had gone rigid. Riki locked eyes with him, and Rigwarl let out a snort. He turned back around and gave Axe a hearty pat on the back,
“Come on lads, wot ‘ave I told yous ‘bout bovverin’ with that sort?”
The jocks, along with their coach, broke out into another round of laughter and turned away, the sounds of their footsteps resonating under the shouting.

Riki let out an exhale once their voices trailed off into the distance. He looked back over the others, watching them for a second while they hunched up further into the walls.
“What...what was that all about?” He asked, trying to stop the shaking of his voice. Rhasta cast a sideways glance at him,
“Surely you’re no stranger to the concept of school bullies.” He huffed. Mireska put a reassuring hand on his shoulder,
“By the way he’s dressed, he might’ve been one himself.” She remarked, scornfully. Meepo and Rhasta let out chuckles at this, but Riki only dropped his gaze to the ground, looking at the rim of his shirt. The high pitched clamouring of the school bell made him jump and to his side, Meepo stirred. The kobold reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper, unfolding it with a glare.
“Ugh! English!” He grumbled, earning groans from his friends. Riki swished his tail before leaning forward again.
“I like english...” He chimed in, hoping they would loosen up as they climbed out of the nook. The punks, however, only swapped knowing looks and Meepo shook his head.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that in an hour, buddy.”

“Mornin’ Razor!” The kobold greeted the English teacher as the group shuffled through the door.
“I cannot even find it in me to be disappointed with the three of you. Late on the first day back!” A muffled, rather whining voice responded. Riki looked up, expecting a stern face to be looking down at him, but suppressed a gasp when he saw that the teacher was clad in a dark blue horned helmet. Above him, a storm cloud seemed to be forming out of thin air, and soft thunder rumbled throughout the room. Razor gave a flick of his gloved hand, gesturing into the room.
“Sit down immediately!” He commanded. Riki watched while Mireska and Meepo sat down on either side of a dark haired girl. Whiskers and pawprints decorated her from top to bottom, and Riki could have sworn he heard her hiss as they passed. Meanwhile, Rhasta quietly slunk away towards the back of the room.
Riki remained awkwardly at the front, before Razor let out a huff under his mask.
“Ah...right, the new kid.” The strange teacher examined him. Riki held his breath, feeling all eyes in the still class on him.
“Name?” Razor demanded, pulling out a roll book. Riki found himself wringing his hands while he cleared his throat.
“It’s...it’s Riki...Rikimaru, sir.” He stammered, looking back up at him expectantly, but the teacher only pointed to the back of the class.
“Down there.” Razor announced, looking back down at him.
“And get a move on!”
With that, he turned and floated back toward his desk on the opposite side of the room. Riki hunched his shoulders and made his way through the small gaps in the desks, trying his hardest to ignore the snickering and whispering from around him. A wave of relief washed over him when he got a good look at his empty seat: right next to some blonde girl and Rhasta, who moved his bag under his desk as Riki sat down. He glanced to his other side to get a look at his other neighbour, who returned his gaze with a bat of her heavy lashes.
“I like your horns.” She purred, the corners of her lips tugging upwards. Before Riki could respond, a snort sounded behind him.
“Ignore Rylai, she tries that with all the guys.” Rhasta scoffed, narrowing his eyes at the girl. Rylai merely scrunched up her face.
“Whatever Rhasta, you just wish I’d try it with you!” She sneered. Riki shrunk in his seat between the furious scowls of his neighbours.
“Quiet! All of you!” Razor screeched from the front of the class.
Rhasta shook his head and leaned in towards Riki.
“Get used to the theatrics,” he whispered, while the cloud above Razor’s head swirled. Riki could feel the teacher’s gaze on him, even through the slits of the mask.
“If you lot are finished chattering like crows, we will begin.”
With a flourish Razor turned to the whiteboard, and began to scribble away.

Riki couldn’t stop his ears from twitching at the sounds of rustling of people trying to ever so subtly zip their bags without alerting Razor, who had wasted no time in getting right into the curriculum. The noise grew more frantic once the bell rang, but before anyone could get out of their seats, a striped hand shot up in the middle of the room.
“Sir, oh sir!” A red haired boy called up. Riki noticed several pairs of furious glares fall on the boy, who didn’t even flinch as he continued.
“Thou hath forgotten to assign us homework!”
The teacher turned around, looking over the room silently for a moment. He shrugged his gangly shoulders.
“Well, that seems to be correct.”
Within a split second the class became an eruption of howls and protests and jeers directed at the pompous student.
“You animals! Be quiet!” Razor let out a shriek which did little to quell the outrage.
“AXE DOESN’T WANT HOMEWORK!!” Riki recognised the booming voice of the huge jock from the front row.
“Ugh! This is so not fair!” Rylai whined from his side. Down the row from her, a tall, horned demon crumpled up some paper and flung it at the boy, who turned around to regard him in offence. Riki leaned over to Rhasta,
“Who is that?” He whispered. The troll rolled his pale eyes before leaning back over to him.
“That … is Magina.” He sneered, leaning back away to pack up his things. Riki couldn’t help but smile a bit.
“Wow … A stunt like that would’ve been a death sentence in my old school.”
Rhasta chuckled in response.
“Yeah, it’s not so different here either.”
Riki looked out over the room. He saw the jocks all glowering at Magina, who was attempting to get up so he could leave the room alongside Razor. Axe’s face had managed to grow even redder, and his massive fists were clenched in anger.
Riki shivered, and felt his fur stand on end. He blinked back into focus and turned to his side again.
“What do you think they-“
He stopped himself once he saw that the seat was empty. He looked back up and saw that Mireska and Meepo had left too. Dejected, he sat in silence, waiting for the rest of the room to clear, before clearing up his books and making his way out of the door.

Chapter Text

The lunch bell rang and the hallways had erupted with sounds of excited chatter and laughter as the students flocked to the cafeteria. It took every ounce of Riki’s strength to not let himself be shoved over by the bustling crowd. He carefully followed the stream, trying to keep the fur on his tail smooth, and scanned the area in the hopes he’d see his assigned friends. The crowd funnelled into the cafeteria, and Riki let his jaw hang open slightly. The room was homely and the warmth from the kitchen was being trapped in the dark brick walls illuminated by the overhead lights. The heat was cushioning and it was only further exacerbated by the deafening noise. In the middle, the largest tables had already been grabbed by various groups of students, who sat laughing together. Riki regarded them for a moment, nerves bubbling in his chest, before joining the long queue leading up to the counter.

He came to a stop behind two students he recognised from his class. The imposingly tall demon who threw paper at Magina, and a smaller but arguably more intimidating demon girl. They hardly noticed him shuffle in behind them. Riki, however, decided he would at least make some effort in interacting with his peers. He swallowed hard and puffed out his chest.
“Hi.” He announced. Holding his breath, he waited on either of the two to turn around.
Clearing his throat, he tried again.
"That Razor's a pain, huh?" After a few seconds of silence, Riki let himself slump, not knowing if the pair hadn't heard him or were actively ignoring him. .The queue moved at what felt like a crawl after that, but eventually, he reached the end of the counter. Ahead of him, he saw a large bear next to a stitched up abomination of a man shovelling food onto students' trays, their own voices booming above the already overwhelming racket.
“I think he’s been pacin’ ‘imself well since that leg injury.” The stitched man rambled. Beside him, the bear only grunted.
“I dunno Pudge, that limp’s cost the team more games. You don’t wanna know how many bets I’ve lost at the bar.”
Riki turned his attention to the pair in front of him, leaning sideways to get a look at the food they had chosen, but before he could even register what was on their trays, he was jostled to the front. The bear stared him down expectantly, and Riki felt his mind start to buzz.
“What’ll it be?” The cafeteria attendant’s gruff voice made him jump.
“Uh...I’ll have...” He stammered, his eyes darting back and forth over the spread in front of him.
Behind him, people started to grumble, complaining that he was holding up the line. Riki felt his chest tightening, until a shrill voice cut through the clamouring.
“Alright Mangix, settle down!”
He jumped as an old keen woman popped her small head balanced by a massive up-do over the counter.
“Give the poor boy a second to think!” She clambered up on a stand and tapped her wooden spoon against the wall, causing the grumbling to die down. She looked down at him, eyes soft behind her large, round glasses, and smiled gently.
“You must be the new one.” Her tone was grandmotherly. Riki could only give a timid, grateful nod. The woman pushed her glasses up.
“Well I can recommend that Dragonbreath Chilli! House specialty!”
Riki swallowed hard before giving a sigh of relief.
“I’ll...I’ll take that.”
Just as he agreed, a large bowl of chilli was plopped down on his plate. He turned away to the sound of the lunch lady chastising the other two.

The fur along Riki's neck prickled in embarrassment as he scanned the cafeteria again, looking for a flash of wings, white fur or gold skin that signalled the group of punks. Amidst the crowd, he spotted Axe and his cronies, surrounded by more boys and a single girl in matching jerseys. They boomed and jeered as some of them threw a carton of chocolate milk at each other, droplets spilling out the end and messing up their clothes. Riki flattened his ears and moved himself to the side of the room so he could avoid eye contact with them. He began to search more frantically, just wanting any table that wasn’t occupied at this point. Sticking close to the wall, he began to make his way in a loop around the room, hunting for an empty space, even if it was next to a dumpster. His legs began to shake as he heard laughter. A few people glanced at him with wide grins, watching him stumble around helplessly. In the thick crowd, his heart plummeted when it dawned on him: there was nowhere to sit.

Riki made his way toward the entrance, hunched over and desperately trying not to imagine everyone staring right at him. He tightened his grip on the tray, before he could leave he needed somewhere to leave it, but all the bins had lopsided stacks on top of them. Beside one of the bins, a massive centaur holding a mop watched him, silently. Riki opened his mouth to speak, looking at the opening of the container, but the centaur promptly cut him off.
“If you do, I’m not cleaning it up.” He grumbled. Riki quickly looked down and shuffled away. A round of giggling caught his attention and he turned to see a familiar, blonde haired face smiling at him from the middle of a gaggle of girls.
“Over here, new boy.” Rylai waved him over, flashing a glance at the red haired girl in front of her who quickly scooted over. Riki returned the wave with a flick of his tail and fumbled his tray. The girls at the table broke out into more giggling while he made his way over, feeling his face going a bit hot.

“You’ve seen Mortred, Lyralei and Ai in class.” Rylai announced, gesturing to the black haired girl in a striped shirt beside her, and the red headed girl to Riki’s side who looked down at him with a smirk.
“Bonjour.” The dark haired girl, Mortred, greeted him.
At the end of the table, he recognised the centaur girl fiddling with a video camera. Rylai gave the table a light smack, which made Ai jump. She glanced around quickly, before her gaze landed on Riki, and she leaned across the table, extending her hand to him. Riki took it, fur prickling under the stifled giggling of the other girls.
“You’re the new kid!” She announced. Her voice was high and light. Riki caught Lyralei beside him giving a faint scoff.
“That’s what literally everyone has been saying.” She gave Ai a smile that was a tad too wide. Riki cleared his throat.
“Well it’s nice to-“
He didn’t get to finish his sentence, as the girls immediately got to nattering over him. Their voices raked his ears, but he still strained to listen.
“I still can’t believe we were the first to nab coupons off that freak!” Lyralei said with a cackle. Mortred joined in while Rylai cast a pointed look across the cafeteria.
“Some people could really use the free treatments.”
Riki followed her gaze to another red haired, more formally dressed girl sitting across the room. The table broke out into more, rather dark giggles. Riki took a spoonful of chilli, trying to will away the nagging discomfort in his chest. This feeling was only made worse when he looked up to see Rylai just watching him, twirling her hair with one finger. He gave a hard swallow and angled his ears when Ai spoke up.
“I’m so glad I brought my own lunch.” She muttered through a mouthful of her food.
“I can’t see why they took the Tofu Spinach Lasagna off the menu, that was my favourite.”
The other girls didn’t respond, only swapping looks amongst each other while Ai seemed more focused on her container. Riki opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off once again by Mortred suddenly nudging Rylai and pointing past Riki, letting out a shrieking laugh. The blonde gave a malicious looking grin and Riki turned to see what they had spotted.

Two other girls from the class had entered the cafeteria - a lanky harpy with pale, frizzy, wild hair and dark clothing broken up by neon accessories, accompanied by a shorter, chubbier elf with hair that fell in front of her face wearing a baggy black hoodie. He felt his eyes widen curiously at the two girls, but jumped when Lyralei shouted across the cafeteria.
“Hey! Fatxex and Spindle!”
Riki wanted to dive under the table when the girls looked right at them in immediate confusion and bitterness. Rylai wasn’t deterred, however, and she leaned forward.
“It’s nice to see how you kept those summer figures.” She called to them, flashing a very malicious smile. Her girls broke out into further cackling and Riki had to force an uncomfortable smile when Rylai nudged him. Behind them, the two girls began to walk faster, averting their gazes to the lunch queue.
“Isn’t this a great day for you?” Mortred’s voice caught his attention again.
“You just got front row seats to two of the biggest freak shows this school has to offer.” She sat back with a very devious pout.
"Très bien, non?”
“Y-yeah...” Riki nodded, casting one more look behind him. The elf had pulled her hood up and stuck her hands in her pockets while the harpy looked to be gently rubbing her back. He felt a pang of guilt slice through him like a hot knife.

Riki stared down into his bowl of chilli, feeling nauseous. Around him, the cackling of the girls faded into the roaring ambience. For a moment, he thought about just getting up and finding the other two girls, but the pressure in his chest kept him rooted to his seat. He turned his attention back to Rylai, who stirred when a shadow fell over the table.
“Nice to see the circus is back in town.” A rather soft, sultry voice sounded. Riki looked up at another elven girl clad in a trench coat and turtleneck, picking at a salad in her hands.
“With all that cackling, I have no clue if I’m looking at the ringleaders or the clowns.” The girl ended her sentence with a chuckle and Riki forced back a gasp. Rylai only stared at her with narrowed eyes.
“What do you want, Lanaya?” She sneered. Lanaya paused to take a bite of her food, before putting the fork in the plastic container and reaching into her pocket with her free hand. Riki raised a brow while he watched her pull out a folded piece of paper and place it gently in front of Rylai, who scowled as she unfolded it.
“Poetry Club?” She scoffed. Lyralei let out a high pitched laugh, but Riki only swished his tail, subtly pulling the slightly torn page toward himself.
“Do we look like boring geeks to you?” Rylai continued, snatching the page and ripping it up, much to Riki’s ire. Lanaya only turned and looked away. Riki leaned around to see she was staring at the two nerdy girls, who were awkwardly stumbling around, looking for an empty seat.
“I’m sure you’ll find some way to have fun with it.” Lanaya smirked, before turning and stalking away, salad still in hand. Rylai watched as she left, then she turned her thoughtful expression over to Ai. Lyralei and Mortred got back to gossiping, and all Riki could do was sit and listen, while slowly picking at his cooling chilli.

Chapter Text

“Good afternoon, children!”
A short, rather pudgy, blue skinned man in a bright holiday shirt, straw bucket hat and sandals with socks strode into the room, coffee in hand.
“How are we all feeling today? Exhausted, eh?”
Riki felt a rush of warmth at his tone. This teacher was a stark contrast to the earlier classes. He turned to Rhasta who looked to be just as relaxed.
“He seems nice!” Riki noted. The troll gave him a nod.
“Yeah, Raijin’s pretty great.” He agreed briskly. Riki considered him for a moment, recalling the earlier events in the cafeteria. He hadn’t seen any sign of the punks, but they had shown up to class as if they’d been around the whole time.
“Where were you guys at lunch?” He asked, flicking his tail. Rhasta only shrugged.
“We went to our spot.”
Riki felt his shoulders sag slightly. The nook under the stairs. Of course. He could have easily gone to check there instead of allowing the resident mean girls to grab a hold of him. The troll furrowed his brow, as if he could read his thoughts.
“I heard you got real friendly with...that lot.” He gave a pointed nod, and Riki didn’t need to turn around to see who he was referring to. Instead, he only let his head hang while he looked down at his hands. The guilt still pooled in his stomach over what Rylai had said to the two girls in the cafeteria, and that he hadn’t interfered. Rhasta kept staring at him expectantly.
“It’s...it’s not like-“ Riki began to explain, but then Raijin softly clapped his hands and the troll turned his attention back to the top of the room.

“It’s good to see everyone back again,” the teacher announced jovially, his hands clasped together in front of him.
“I hope you all had a nice Summer holiday. I thought today we’d take it easy with this wonderful documentary I saw a couple weeks ago.”
Riki’s ears pricked in interest, but some rather sarcastic voices broke the content murmurs.
“Yeah, tell that to Razor,” Lyralei grumbled up. Raijin tilted his head at her after he pulled a video tape out from his desk.
“He gave us homework! On the first day back!”
From one of the back corners of the room, Strygwyr snarled.
“It’s because of that super-bitch Magina!” The jock pointed across the room at the familiar striped nerd, who only kept his head up in response. Riki gave an irritated flick of his tail. Even he thought homework on day one was a bit ridiculous. At least all but one shared his annoyance. Raijin, however, only gave a tut.
“Now. Let’s not resort to name calling like that.” An ounce of sternness filtered into his voice, but Strygwyr didn’t care, only letting out a snort.
Raijin broke into a smile again.
“Well, since the two of you are just so full of energy -” He gestured to the two complainants.
“You can go grab the TV and wheel it in.”
Lyralei gave a scoff while Sven gave Strygwyr a shove as he stood up and trudged to the front of the room.

After his ‘assistants’ had left, Raijin stroked his beard and his gaze landed on Riki.
“While that’s getting sorted,” he announced. Riki felt himself sinking in his chair.
“I think you all may have noticed that we have a new student.”
Several pairs of eyes fell on him again and Riki wished he could just turn invisible.
“I suppose Razor didn’t give you the chance to introduce yourself?” Raijin asked with a chuckle. Several murmurs broke out.
“Because that’s way worse than giving us homework.” Rhasta grumbled under his breath. Riki flinched, and Raijin beckoned for the satyr to stand up.
“Come up and introduce yourself properly now, then.”
Riki stood up on shaking legs, then moved up to the front of the class, feeling his chest tighten.

When the bell rang, the class broke out into content chattering. Riki was faster to pack his things this time, and he kept close to Rhasta as the troll made his way over to his friends. However, he was interrupted by a gentle tug on his sleeve, and turned to see Raijin. He lifted a hand and watched the last of the room slowly funnel out into the halls. Riki took a moment to glance around unsurely, taking in the bright, colourful posters with uplifting slogans plastered all over the walls. Raijin’s voice drew his attention and he looked up at the teacher, who flashed him a warm smile.
“It’s all a little bit overwhelming on the first day, isn’t it?” He noted, soothingly. The words caught in Riki’s throat, but he acknowledged him with a flick of his tail. Raijin brought his own hand to his beard again.
“I wouldn’t worry too much, however.” He then put his hand on his hip in a self assured manner.
“I’ve known many of these students since they were in Elementary. I think you’ll find yourself fitting in rather soon!”
With that, the teacher tipped his hat, and Riki gave him a brief nod before turning and scurrying out of the room, hoping that he hadn’t lost Rhasta or the other two in the crowd.

Riki sighed in relief when he saw three darkly clad figures amongst the students. The punks were heading down the hall, and Riki crinkled his nose in confusion. He pulled the school map he was given as part of his orientation package out of his pocket and scanned it. Their next class was in room 4B, down the opposite corridor.
Stuffing the paper back into his pocket, he took off, half jogging to catch up with them, his hooves clicking loudly against the floor which was enough to catch their attention. The three of them stopped and turned, observing him blankly as he came to a halt, panting.
“Easy there, whirlwind.” Meepo bared his crooked teeth in an amused smile. Riki paused for a moment to catch his breath before standing upright.
“Aren’t you going to class?” He asked, feeling a surge of nerves as their expressions dropped.
“It’s math.” Rhasta noted. His tone didn’t help Riki’s nerves, but he continued.
“What’s wrong with math?” Riki cringed internally, aware of how completely dorky he sounded. The punks seemed to agree as they broke out into chuckles and swapped glances. Riki just swallowed hard when Meepo took a step toward him.
“Ya wanna come along? Do somethin’ fun for a bit?” He asked, his ears pricking up. Riki felt a spark of excitement, but it quickly burnt out when he looked up and saw Mireska and Rhasta’s frowns.
“Uh...that’s okay…” He declined, trying to mask the disappointment in his voice.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to ditch class on the first day.”
Meepo furrowed his brow, but then shrugged, pulling at the strap of his bag and turning away.
“Suit yaself. See ya later then.”
Riki watched them as they sauntered off down the hall, joking amongst themselves. A part of him considered chasing them down to their spot, but he figured it would be best to stick to his own advice. Besides, they would probably think he was an even bigger loser if he went crawling back to them after declining like that.
With a sigh, he turned and trudged off toward the classroom. Perhaps there would be more like-minded people to speak with there.

He was wrong. So very wrong. The math class was half empty, and those who were there were mostly talking in their secluded cliques. The only one who seemed to be in a similar spot to him was that demon girl, Akasha. However, she didn’t seem bothered as she sat there, peacefully knitting away with her wings tucked neatly behind her. After his encounter with her in the cafeteria, Riki felt it best not to make himself look any more pathetic by trying to speak with her.
Across the room, only three other students were actually taking notes. Riki recognised the scrawny troll with tangled, pale hair, Dazzle. He had tried to introduce himself earlier that day, but the troll had only wheezed and scampered to his seat, keeping his head down.
Riki drummed his fingers on the table, looking over the other two students who had their heads down. Magina, unsurprisingly, was working away, and in the front row, he watched a blond haired student in round glasses and suspenders. Riki hadn’t gotten much of a chance to speak with Carl, but he carried himself in such a manner that instantly sparked irritation in him.
Carl’s head shot up when their teacher, Aggron, began grumbling out loud. The massive ogre’s two small heads were glaring daggers at each other.
“You moron! You’re meant to do them brackets first!” One head snapped. The other let out an angry huff.
“Nuh uh, that’s not what the textbook said,” The other head retorted.
“Is so, moron.”
“Is not! Stop calling me that when you're the moron!”
Riki felt just as confused looking at the jumble of nonsense numbers and letters on the board. He was beginning to understand why half the class seemed to regard this as a free period.
He opened a new note on his phone and began writing, while the two heads carried on arguing over brackets.

Riki had been confused at first when he saw Philosophy listed on his timetable, and his confusion only grew when he got a good look at the teacher, Krobelus: an elegant, darkly dressed banshee woman with a dreary, empty expression on her face. A half burnt cigarette was pressed against her long, thin fingers. She took a long drag out of it, blowing smoke toward the window. Her gaze remained on the overcast afternoon as she addressed the class.
“So we all find ourselves back in these cold, confining brick walls…” She mused. Riki felt tension build in his back and let himself lean back in his chair.
Krobelus stared at her cigarette silently for what felt like minutes, before giving a drawn out sigh.
“My Summer was miserable. I spent it in the old graveyard…”
Riki’s eyes widened. The graveyard? He leaned forward as she continued.
“It served as a sobering reminder of mortality. Many of the names on these graves have long since faded, and one day...those faded names will belong to each and every one of you.”
Riki felt his blood run rather cold at that. Was the class always like this? He surveyed the room. People seemed rather calm, bored almost, except for Axe who reared forward in his seat.
“AXE SUMMER WAS FUN! AXE WENT TO FUNDERLAND WITH AXE MOM AND SISTER!” The oglodi roared proudly. Riki noticed a couple of suppressed smirks, quickly hidden away behind sleeves and cupped hands.
Krobelus turned her head slowly, scanning the room with her pale, green eyes.
“Funderland.” She hissed.
“An illusion of merriment. Made only to distract us from our inevitable futures.” She took another long drag of her cigarette.
“However...even Funderland’s illusion will shatter one day, when it’s nothing more than rusted metal and rotting wood.”
The room was silent and Riki had no idea where to even look. He jumped when Sven’s voice rang out.
“Don’t worry, bro! I wanna hear about your trip.”
Even talking casually, Riki felt the menacing tint to the helmed jock’s voice. With a shiver he thought back to the earlier confrontation under the stairs.
Axe turned around in his seat, stupid beady eyed grin on his face, while Krobelus continued her graveyard tales. Riki brought his hands to his head and rubbed his temples.

With one class left, Riki felt like nothing the school could throw at him would shock him anymore. Between the utter nonsense that had been Math and that unsettling Philosophy class, the school had so far been a parade of the most unusual band of teachers.
The man standing at the head of the Religion class was no different. He could have looked normal, with a light blue turtleneck sweater accented by a silver cross necklace, but any illusion of normalcy was quickly shattered by the monstrosity on his head. Fan-shaped and seemingly made entirely of cardboard, Riki wasn’t even sure what he was looking at.
“That’s just Chen,” Rylai had said, not bothering to look up from her phone.
Things only got weirder when the class started.
“I too was once a lost lamb in the fields of life.” Chen rambled. His blue eyes were wide, yet he didn’t seem fully present.
“It wasn’t until I accepted God as my shepherd and let his holiness guide me, that he showed me the way and I could find happiness.”
Riki leaned over to Rhasta who seemed to be nodding his head.
“Is this...normal?” He asked. Rhasta didn’t respond, so Riki tapped him on the shoulder. The troll jumped a bit and pulled his headphones back, making Riki wince at the volume of the rapid metal blasting from them.
“What’s up?” He asked, furrowing a brow.
Riki nodded towards Chen who was still raving about God and sheep. Rhasta gave a shrug and returned to his music, and Riki slumped slightly. Beside him, Rylai let out a giggle.
“Oh if you think this is bad you’re in for a treat on Thursday.” There was a glint in her eye.
“What do you mean?” Riki asked, but she only flicked her hair and resumed tapping away on her sparkly blue phone. Riki pulled out his timetable and looked over Thursday’s line up.
Health class? What’s so bad about health class?
His thoughts were interrupted by yelling. He looked up to see Chen looking very flustered, shouting at the pudgy cat-like boy two rows in front of him.
“Because I heard his holy voice! He is as real as you or me!” Chen’s voice was almost a wail. The tubby boy just scoffed.
“Ngheh!! There’s no scientific evidence for that! It’s all bullshit!”
Riki shrunk further into his seat, just hoping to hear the ringing of the bell.

A cool breeze greeted Riki as he stepped off the bus onto the clean pavement lined with evenly spaced trees on one side and neatly trimmed hedges along the other. He pulled the strap of his huge, heavy bag over his shoulder, ignoring the strain on his back. He set off down the path to his house, but stopped in surprise at a very strange sight. Among the dispersing crowd of the local wealthy kids, he recognised long wings sticking out of a patch covered leather jacket that gleamed in the afternoon sun. Mireska certainly stuck out like a sore thumb with those dark clothes.
He stepped forward to call for her, but stopped when he noticed the downcast look on her face. Her shoulders were hunched and she was clutching the strap of her messenger bag with both hands, far from how she had carried herself at school. Riki tried to keep out of her line of sight. It was better he just left her alone, especially after the first impression he had given her and her friend.
The fairy began to flutter her wings and she set off flying down a windy, tree lined path. Riki shook his head, then continued on his own way to his street.

Riki opened the door to his large, lightly painted house. Inside there was already more noise than the school halls. As he made his way around the hall, he could hear the muffled sounds of his dad’s frantic voice behind the door of his office. Riki recalled always being told to leave him alone when he was dealing with clients, so he kept on. As he stepped towards the set of stairs, his mother came rushing out of the sitting room.
“Kayden! Come down now you’ll be late!” She called, her fluffy tail lashing. Riki approached her, wringing his hands. It was a welcome break to not have to look up as much.
“Hey, mom.” He greeted her, clearing his throat as she walked right by him to the bottom of the stairs. Riki followed suit.
“Do you...wanna hear about my day?”
He held his breath, just waiting for her to turn around, but he released it when he heard thundering hoofsteps. Kayden, his younger brother, came bounding down the stairs with a tennis racket in one hand and his gym bag in the other. The younger satyr only let out a harsh chuckle as he almost bowled his brother over. Their mother barely reacted, only turning to Riki with a curt nod.
“I’m happy to hear it went well.” She said nonchalantly. Riki couldn’t stop his tail from drooping as she scooped up her keys and rushed his brother out the front door. He stood there, dejected, before pulling himself up the stairs. On the second floor, he peeked his head into the hall to see his older brother storming toward him with a pile of books in one hand. Riki barely got the chance to open his mouth before Lukkis huffed at him.
“Stop being in the way!” He shouldered past him and headed down the stairs. Riki just rolled his eyes and turned to the second set of stairs leading to the attic.

He shut the door to his room gently and trudged in, slinging his bag on the bed. The red wallpaper and bits of clutter about the floor only left him feeling confined. He let out a long sigh and made his way over to the corner of his room where a pristine old piano sat. Pulling out the stool and sitting down on it, tucking his tail neatly to one side, he placed his fingers on the keys and began to play.

Chapter Text

By the fourth hour on the freeway, Riki decided that if he saw another vacant crop field he was going to pull his fur out. It was bad enough being pressed against the door because his fidgety little brother wanted more room than he needed, but coupled with the repetitive environment it made for sheer torture. His parents seemed to agree - although they didn’t voice it to him, their harsh bickering in the front seats spoke volumes.
“You’ve taken the same turn three times now!” His mom snapped. In the opposite seat, his dad leaned forward to tap the GPS lightly.
“The guy said it was the most accurate model...” He huffed.
“I’ll have to call for a refund.”
Riki saw his mother turn her head to scowl at him, ears flat. Riki averted his own gaze to the opposite side of the car where his other brother was squashed against the other door, clutching a book and glancing up at the front, eyes narrowed and tail tip flicking. Lukkis turned to look at Riki for a second, and Riki tried to give him a sympathetic smile, but the older satyr just gave a snort and returned to his reading.

The sky was dark by the time they passed a large, wooden sign decorated with colourful stones and a patch of flowers.
“Welcome to Runesville!”
Riki took note of a golden lizard-like silhouette painted underneath the name, but the sign was quickly out of his view as the car continued on across the bridge into the outskirts of the town. The scenery matched the freeway with cracked up concrete. Out of his window, he noticed a rather patchy looking area, surrounded by beaten down trailers and broken metal fences. Dim street lamps and the tiny windows of the mobile houses illuminated the trailer park with a sickly orange and yellow glow, lighting up piles of scrap and ripped up garbage bags strewn along the edges. From the front seat, his mom groaned in disgust.
“Don’t even think about driving through there!” Her tone was scathing enough to make Riki flinch, but he stayed quiet as the car veered off the nearest turn.

The bumpy dirt road melded into asphalt and the surrounding metal and concrete was broken up by spots of grass, and a banged up metal sign announcing they had arrived in Diredale. Off in the distance, blocks of concrete stood as black silhouettes against the night sky. Further along, a massive mall peeked out over the horizon, its bright fluorescent sign seeming almost like a beacon of light. Riki frowned. That certainly wasn’t chimney smoke. A high pitched whine interrupted his thoughts.
“I don’t wanna move here!” Kayden piped up, crossing his arms. Their dad turned his head slightly.
“Come on now, Kayden.” There was a soothing warmth in his voice that made Riki’s fur prickle.
“The city was always so stressful, it’ll be good for us all to get out into a small town and just be able to relax.”
Lukkis let out a scoff.
“Please. We’re only moving out here because of your stupid business deal!” He grumbled, glowering down over his book.
“Can’t believe I have to finish the last year of Uni online because of you!” His voice was low and their parents didn’t seem to notice, only returning to arguing over directions. Riki opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. Anything he had to say would have been met with scolding. He was just along for the ride, and it was better for everyone’s sake that he kept it that way.

The rugged concrete gave way to cleaner brick patterns as they drove over an arching bridge, crossing a cluttered river that ran through the middle of the town. Beyond it, small shops and cafes circled an open plaza where couples of stray residents ambled about under the orange street lights. The plaza sat between bigger houses that lined the sides of the streets, with neatly trimmed hedges and light in all windows. He saw his mom prick her ears up as they took another turn, into a much more verdant street. A well polished, ornate sign surrounded by lush shrubs and colourful flowers signalled their arrival to Radiant Hills. The houses here dwarfed any that Riki had seen before, complete with freshly mowed lawns and expansive gardens.
Riki turned back to look at the front seat at the sound of his dad’s voice.
“See?” He looked back at his sons with a grin.
“Didn’t I say we’d be moving to a much nicer neighbourhood?”
None of them responded. Lukkis cared way more about his book, Kayden was still content to sit and sulk with his arms folded, and Riki just couldn’t find anything he really wanted to say.

The car rustled as it turned down one of the side roads. The white street lamps melded into the trees of the forest road, leaving smaller strips of light broken up by shadows. Riki’s eyes widened when the car pulled into a small clearing where a lone, faded blue house stood. It almost towered over its surroundings and stuck out against the slightly overgrown lawn littered with cracked flowerpots and a rusted chair swing. Riki let his jaw hang open slightly while he stepped out of the car. His dad shut the door to the driver's seat and took a deep breath, puffing out his chest.
“Welcome home!”

Chapter Text

In the most isolated corner of the dull, beige gym, huddled on the bleachers, sat Traxex with her knees tucked to her chest. She let out a huge yawn and shook her head, her white fringe flopping around her face before falling in front of both eyes. She brushed it to the side and huffed and decided that whoever had put together this timetable was sick.
Gym class was horrible enough at literally any other time, but first thing in the morning? What self respecting person would ever want to be running around in a broken down hall feeling ridiculous in a bright, too tight magenta tank top at this hour?!
Traxex hunched her shoulders with another, frustrated sigh and scanned the room. Her friends, also huddling along the corner, shared her own lack of enthusiasm, lounging on the benches with disgruntled, uncomfortable scowls. She looked to the opposite side of the room. The side where those people stood. Traxex curled her lip. Those horrible jocks had wasted no time in running laps and shoving each other over, in a display that was nothing short of marking the territory. Clearly they were showing off for when their beloved coach would walk in, so he could praise them for being such good athletes while the rest of the class were all lazy and useless and fat.
Traxex scowled further when she looked across from the jocks. Those two idiots, Dragonus and Wukong, were clambering about on the ropes, the former flapping his wings in an attention grabbing, highly obnoxious manner, causing feathers to scatter all throughout the room. They were being watched by the worst of the worst - the popular girls. Rylai and her gaggle of brainwashed geese were gathered in the middle, all in matching, fitted gym clothes. Along the edge of the group, Lyralei turned her head. Too slowly Traxex turned away with a snarl, pointedly looking at a plain spot on the wall. She flinched when she heard gratingly loud giggling.

As if on cue, the sound of talons scratching against the floor caught her attention. She looked up and felt a rush of warmth that soothed her when she saw Shendel blocking the view of Rylai. She was hopping from talon to talon with her frizzy mane of hair bouncing along with her.
“You should read this really cool creepypasta I found this morning!” Shendel gushed.
“It’s about this kid who got locked in this abandoned greenhouse by some bullies, and he died in there, and now he’s getting revenge on them!”
Traxex let herself smile, with a small spark of energy pricking in her chest as well. She stood up and moved closer to her friend.
“What’s it called?” Traxex brought her hand to her arm and clutched it tightly. Shendel reared up to respond, but she was interrupted by a loud bang from the far end of the gym. The two girls turned to see the bristly, hunched over brute of a porcupine they called their coach. Traxex crinkled her nose. Clad in his stained, filthy grey wifebeater, silver whistle hanging loosely around his neck, he strode in and clapped his hands together. Traxex found herself scowling at the sight of a rolled up, rather worn looking magazine in his pocket. It was still a mystery to her why anyone would let him parade around with such tasteless, degrading imagery like that, but it only proved to her that him and his boys might as well own the school. From the popular kid’s side of the gym, she heard a loud scoff from Mirana as the disgusting Coach passed by. Even if she was popular, at least there was one thing they could agree on.
With a huff, Traxex began to trudge over with Shendel in tow, still bouncing away. Predictably, the jocks were the first ones over, showering Rigwarl with high fives while hollering like apes. Traxex made sure to keep herself to the back, as far away from Rigwarl as she could stand without getting in trouble. The coach stood in the centre of the half circle formed around him. He took a heavy pawed step and lifted his head.
“Awright! It’s good to ‘ave yous all back and rarin’ to go!” Rigwarl announced, raking his gaze over the class.
“It’s nice to see how some of yous worked ‘ard to stay in shape over the Summer.”
At this, the jocks let out further howls, pumping the air with their meaty fists. Traxex crossed her arms and looked down at her sneakers.
“An’ some of you…looks like yous got a bit too comfortable.” He added. Laughter could be heard from the pack of popular girls.
“Just say Lion.” Rylai’s voice cut sharply over the cackling.
“As if he could ever lose all of that weight!” Mortred’s voice sounded, followed by a very offended ‘ngheh’. Traxex could feel the pit in her stomach getting deeper while the laughter died down.
Rigwarl’s spines bristled.
“Anyway,” the coach raised his voice again as his pawsteps thumped toward the storage room.
Traxex quietly let out the breath she didn’t realise she was holding.

“I’ve got a treat today.”
Traxex felt a chill run down her spine when Rigwarl walked back over and she saw the dreaded red ball in his hands. She flinched as the absolute animals around her broke out into more whooping and hollering. Meanwhile, discontented grumbling rumbled through the actually sane people in the class.
“Nothin’ like a good ol’ fashioned game of dodgeball!” The coach dribbled the ball and caught it, fixing them all with an ugly grin. He pointed over to the scrawny frame of Dazzle who was visibly trembling.
“An’ try not to knock that one out again.” His sentence ended with a cruel chuckle and Traxex had to refrain from physically cringing when Axe roared up.
“AXE IS STRONG!”
Rigwarl gave his most precious star a warm smile that no one else could ever even dream of getting before turning back to address the rest of them.
“I think by now yous should all know wot teams yous are on!”
With that, the popular, well-liked and athletic kids all grouped up on the left, jostling each other and laughing away. Traxex rolled her eyes and shuffled over to the right side with the other outcasts, falling into step beside Mireska, who looked down and gave her a gentle nudge with her wing. The gesture did little to comfort Traxex, however, as she was painfully aware of further giggling from Rylai and her pack. When she turned around to face the coach again, she noticed Riki, the new kid, still stuck in the middle, glancing awkwardly from side to side. She threw him a hard, bitter glare, hoping he’d notice and feel terrible.
To her left, Rhasta spoke up.
“We should probably call him over?” He suggested, to little response from his friends. Traxex, however, felt more than happy to answer.
“Don’t bother!” She turned to him, letting herself sneer slightly. Any sympathy she had for the pompous, preppy goat immediately dissipated when she saw him mocking her and Shendel in the cafeteria, and she couldn’t believe Rhasta would even think of bringing him over after hearing about that.
Before she could continue, Rylai’s shrill voice rang out in the gym and Traxex watched as the satyr scampered over to her.
“He’s made his allegiance very clear.”
Traxex shuffled towards the back while the two teams squared up. She let out another huff. This was already shaping up to be another year of being used as pawns by Rigwarl so his precious stars could win every game and feel good about themselves. There were only two people on her team who looked even remotely in shape, Taro and Meepo, and the latter could be used as a dodgeball himself. The popular fools seemed to agree with her, eyeing up the team of nervous, almost frightened outcasts with maliciously gleeful grins.
“Awright, chums!” Rigwarl called, blowing his whistle and tossing the red ball into the air.
“Game on!”

The library was always near deserted, but at lunch time it was practically a ghost town save for one or two students who chose to seek refuge there. Exhausted, Traxex set her stack of flyers down on the check out desk while Shendel rang the bell. There was a large, poppy coloured bruise on the harpy’s arm which stung Traxex to look at, but Shendel didn’t seem bothered, only bouncing on her toes while they waited. Traxex scanned the near silent library. It would have been a great place to have lunch, if not for...
“Hello, girls.” A soft voice sounded from behind the counter.
“What can I do for you, today?”
She recoiled at the sight of the decrepit looking librarian clad in a purple sweater. His eyes, though sunken into his head, were sharp and hawkish, and he smiled widely as he regarded them. Traxex felt her hairs stand on end. Shendel, however, didn’t seem bothered.
“Hi Nortrom!” She greeted him with a chirp.
“Could we put up some flyers for our Poetry Club?”
Nortrom’s thin smile grew bigger.
“Ah...poetry. I used to enjoy reading poetry on the farm with my dear Norbert and Nora.” He reached down to caress a framed photo of a man and woman with the same, horribly wide smiles.
“They were so fond of poetry...”
There was a cushioning silence after Nortrom trailed off, staring wistfully at the picture. Traxex grimaced. She took a step back but kept her eyes narrowed on Nortrom.
“So...is that a yes?” She tilted her head.
Nortrom only pulled his gaze up.
“How could I ever say no to you girls.” Traxex felt a shudder rack through her as he gave them a wink, before turning and slinking away to a table in the back, where Magina was sitting gorging on a chocolate bar. Traxex and Shendel watched him for a second. When they were certain he was out of ear shot, Traxex leaned over to her friend.
“He is such a creep!” She whispered.
Shendel gave an exaggerated shiver.
“I hope not all boys who like poetry are like that...” she muttered as she took a stack of flyers and made her way to the nearest shelf.

Traxex pressed the cheap tape to the last free corner of the page, holding it up against the side of an isolated book shelf. She took a step back, a smile tugging at the edge of her mouth. Shendel appeared from the other side, clutching a worn fantasy novel in her talons.
“Do you think we can even get enough people to join?” She eyed the sign with a crease of her brow.
Traxex frowned at her. Surely she knew that there had to be some well cultured people in this school. She opened her mouth to reply, but a sad wheeze followed by a puff of an inhaler from around the corner cut her off. The two girls peeked around the shelf to see an isolated table with the lone, scrawny Dazzle huddled under his mass of pale, tangled hair. He sat there, almost statue-like except for his bony hand gripping a pen so tightly it shook, scribbling away at a notebook. A mass of open textbooks were scattered across the table haphazardly. Traxex turned to Shendel, and gave her a light nudge.
“Look, it’s your weirdo neighbour!” She whispered, chuckling. Shendel, however, didn’t laugh. Instead, she bit her lip slightly and stared at him.
“Do you think we should ask him to join?” The harpy replied, still not taking her eyes off their classmate. Traxex recoiled.
“But you said before that you didn’t want weird boys in the club!” She wondered for a second if Shendel had gotten hit too hard during Gym. Perhaps she should’ve taken her to Krobelus? Her friend, however, responded with a very gentle shove.
“Dazzle’s not weird!” She asserted.
“He’s just ... really shy ... like really really shy.”
Traxex just frowned further.
“There’s really really shy and then there’s that.” She muttered under her breath, but Shendel didn’t hear, already bouncing over to Dazzle, who jolted at the noise. Traxex winced as the troll looked up, revealing a massive dark bruise forming around one of his yellow eyes. He let out an uneasy wheeze, but that didn’t deter Shendel who plopped down in the seat in front of him.
“Hey! Dazzle!” The harpy greeted him with her signature warm smile. Traxex had to stop herself from visibly scowling.
“We’ve been looking all over the place for you! I’m starting a Poetry Club with Traxex and ... well, we’d really like you to join!” She continued, very rapidly, while Dazzle remained rigid, apart from his eyes darting back and forth and his scarred lip creasing slightly. Traxex leaned against the wall and rolled her eyes, suppressing a sigh. Dazzle let out another wheeze followed by pathetic stammering.
“I can’t ... I can’t I ... have to work ...” he quickly looked back down at his papers. Shendel jerked in her seat slightly.
“But I haven’t even told you when it is!” She leaned forward and Dazzle pulled back.
“It’s full time since ... since the start of Summer.”
Traxex had to strain to hear his voice, further frustration pricking at her. How could someone be this difficult to hear in a near silent library? Again, Shendel didn’t seem bothered, only leaning in closer and speaking a lot quieter.
“She can’t make you do that! Can she?” She asked, a hint of outrage in her tone. Dazzle didn’t respond. He only let out another low wheeze before returning to his homework. Shendel reached out and gave him a pat on the shoulder, causing him to pull away again.
“I’ll talk to you later.” Her voice was still gentle in spite of Dazzle’s very disrespectful mannerisms. She got up from the chair and joined Traxex who let out a faint sigh of relief. Finally, they could get back to their flyers. She turned to look up at Shendel whose brow was still furrowed.
“Yeah right, definitely not a weirdo at all.” She tried to give her a playful smirk, but Shendel seemed to be in another world as the two girls left the library and headed for the back stairway.

Chapter Text

It was time for their Wednesday afternoon Math Class, and perhaps for the sake of her grades, Traxex should have made an effort to attend, but she had more important things to do. Pressed against the wall, she held her breath as Shendel peeked around the corner. The harpy quickly pulled back with an excited squeak.
“There they are!” She gave a hop, clicking her claws together. Traxex took a turn to sneakily peer around. By the fountain leaned the dark clad, winged frames of Taro and Akasha, deep in conversation. Akasha had her arms folded across her chest looking so authoritative and unafraid, while Taro was telling her something, his hands in his trouser pockets and his eyes aloof and deep. Traxex pulled back behind the wall, letting out a shaky breath. Beside her, Shendel stirred.
“They look even cooler than last year!” She gushed. Leaning her head against the wall, Traxex let out a sigh.
“Yeah, not even the jocks would dare to mess with them...” She was acutely aware of the envy in her voice, but she was allowed to be envious. Shendel tapped her talon off the ground.
“You really think they’ll say yes?” She whispered, leaning in close. Traxex swallowed hard. Surely at least one of them would be interested. Akasha in particular looked like she had a whole library of poetry from the romantic era stored at her house.
Traxex looked back up at Shendel and gave her a resolute nod.
“Yeah, I mean like ... look at them.” She furrowed her brow slightly.
“Like ... they’re just ... so cool.”
A silence fell over the two girls. Traxex could feel her legs turning to stone. Shendel peered out behind the wall one more time and quickly pulled back again.
“This means one of us has to talk to them.” The harpy noted in a half whimper, gritting her teeth and wringing her hands. Traxex dropped her gaze to the floor, only just realising the weight of what they were about to ask. She took a deep breath, straightened her back and brushed her fringe out of her eye.
“I’ll do it.” She announced, steeling her gaze. Shendel’s jaw dropped ever so slightly, then she fixed her with a wide grin. Traxex felt a small smile tug at her face, which was enough to light a fire in her chest that sent her marching right over to the two demons.

Said fire was promptly extinguished the second she got close to them. While the two goths had been deep in conversation before, they trailed off once Traxex pulled up beside them. She could’ve run. She could’ve easily taken that opportunity to just turn on her heels and bolt, but Shendel was watching and she had promised her she would do this. She shuddered under Akasha’s blank, inquisitive stare and she looked up at Taro, whose stoic expression was only broken by the smallest of glints in his bright blue eyes.
You can do this, Traxex!
She took a deep breath.
Just be cool.
A smirk had now formed on Taro’s lips and the feathers at the tips of his upturned wings quivered ever so slightly.
“Hey ... so ... uh ...” She tried to relax her posture and hide the shakiness of her voice. Akasha narrowed her red eyes and Traxex felt her face beginning to burn up.
“You guys wanna ... you wanna ...” Her voice cracked.
“You wanna ... join our ... Poetry Club?”

Traxex glowered out over her folded arms, only able to see a small strip of the room between those, her fringe and the rim of her hood. That was good, because maybe if she couldn’t see anyone else, then no one could see her and what a pathetic loser she was.
In front of her, sitting cross legged on her desk, Shendel was chattering away.
“You should really read the newest chapter of that creepypasta!” She gushed.
“It was soooooo scary, like, I think I had a nightmare about it last night.”
Traxex shrunk further into her hoodie.
“My whole life is just one continuous nightmare.” She groaned. A claw ever so gently scraped her face as Shendel reached down to brush the elf’s fringe out of her eye.
“Hey ... it was still really cool that you asked them.” The harpy’s voice was soothing, but Traxex still let out a whine.
“I’m so stupid!”
She tensed up further at the sound of a chair scraping off the floor followed by Rylai’s grating voice from the row just in front of them.
“Oh, you’re only realizing that now?” The despicable blonde sneered, not giving Traxex the chance to respond as she whipped back around to talk to Riki, who kept his back to them. Traxex tried to glare daggers at them, scowling fiercely enough in the hopes it would freeze them in their seats.

The bell screeched and the rest of the class began to funnel into the room. Shendel gave Traxex one more reassuring pat on the shoulder before sliding off the desk and settling down in the seat down the row in front of Traxex, who let out one last drawn out sigh as she sat up. Taking a glance to her left, she cringed. The seat was still empty.
Don’t tell me I scared them off coming to class.
She jolted as the door was flung open once more and her heart plummeted. Clutching a thick, leatherbound book and with golden hair practically burning under the dim light of the class, in strode their health teacher. Purist Chuck Thunderwrath. He stormed into the room ,an already infuriated scowl plastered under his beard, and scanned them all. His mouth curled into a nasty sneer.
“So it appears I’ve been assigned to wrangle the sin out of you heathens this year!”
A chuckle broke out to Traxex’s right side and she glared over at Wukong who didn’t pay her any mind.
“Far out, dude.” He muttered, smirking up at Chuck. Traxex just rolled her eyes and slumped slightly, as the teacher walked over to his desk with his head held high.
“By the grace of God,” he lifted his free fist high into the air.
“I will pound abstinence into all of your sinful heads by the end of this semester!”
As he roared he brought his fist down hard on the table, causing Traxex to jump in shock. She felt her cheeks redden, hoping that her neighbour hadn’t noticed.
Chuck took a breath to continue his tirade again, but the creak of the door cut him off. He turned his glare to the source of the noise and the class followed suit. Traxex felt her heart drop as Taro entered the room, head lifted defiantly. Akasha followed him with her eyes narrowed and her hands clasping at her arms. All heads in the room swivelled back to regard Chuck, whose face contorted in fury.
“Well well. Taro Blade and Akasha Payne. It’s no surprise to see the two of you late!” He snarled.
“Get to your seat, boy.”
He pointed a white knuckled hand toward the back of the room, right at Traxex, causing her to flinch. She let out a shaky breath when Taro opened his mouth to say something, but Akasha pulled his sleeve, shaking her head. The taller demon shot one more glare at the teacher before popping his collar and storming toward the back, not caring as he bashed people at the end tables over the head with his wings. Traxex tensed up when he slumped down into the empty desk beside her. She looked up, face growing hot again, hoping she could catch his eye, but his icy gaze was fixed firmly on the front of the class.

“Devilish tramp, think you can saunter into this class like it was one of your back alleys.”
Chuck was blocking Akasha from getting to her seat. The teacher’s face was pure red as he screamed.
“You types are all the same!”
Traxex swore she could see spittle at the corners of his mouth, as she sat in silence along with the rest of the class. Akasha’s leathery wings twitched slightly, but she stayed still as Chuck went on.
“Just know this: One day you’ll be burning up with the rest of the soulless harlots!!”
In front of her, Rylai giggled and nudged Riki, whose tail was bushed out like a startled cat. Traxex scoffed and fished out her iPod from her bag, taking her ear buds and sticking them in her ears. She hit play and MCR began to blast, blissfully drowning out the noise of Chuck’s rampant roaring. She leaned back in her seat, attempted to ignore how Taro was still in her peripheral vision, and kept her eyes on the ceiling.

Chapter Text

“We have been looking all week!” Traxex whinged, burying her head in her knees. Her voice bounced off the ruddy brick walls of the nook. She felt a talon press gently against her shoulder and let out a huff.
“We even asked Carl. Carl!” She fumed. Snickers broke out in front of her.
“And how did that go?” Rhasta asked, shifting slightly in his seat as he slumped next to Mireska, who was regarding the two girls with her antennae perked and brow raised.
Traxex rolled her eyes.
“Ugh. You know Carl.” She grumbled.
“He said, and I quote: ‘My vast intelligence is far above you and your simpleton poetry!’” She made sure to imitate the snotty nerd pushing his glasses up and the punks burst out into laughter.
“He’s such a twat!” Mireska cackled, shaking her head. Traxex snorted her agreement. The laughter died down and beside her, Shendel’s narrow shoulders sagged.
“I REALLY wanted to ask Dragonus-“ The harpy spoke up. Traxex had to refrain from visibly wincing as she whipped around.
“Yeah, well did you forget we saw him and Wukong laughing at our posters!?” Her voice was tinged with restrained bitterness as she pouted. From the corner, curled in a ball of white fluff, Meepo gave a scoff.
“Ya gotta admit,” the rat shook his head, causing his floppy ears to bounce.
“Those flyers ... they’re pretty lame.”
Traxex lurched forward in outrage, narrowing her eyes fiercely at the kobold who barely even flinched.
“Take that back Meepo, they’re not!” She snapped, cheeks flush with rose tinted anger.
“If anything, you guys are the lame ones for not helping!”
Mireska and Rhasta even Shendel looked slightly taken aback and Traxex felt the smallest tinge of regret at her outburst, but she wasn’t about to let Meepo call her lame when he couldn’t go five minutes without getting hung up on a coat rack. Rhasta leaned on one hand.
“I wouldn’t have minded joining,” he drawled, brushing a chunk of black hair to the side of his face.
“But I told you before, I’m practicing with my old man tonight.”
Traxex pouted. She understood that, sure whatever, but she was still well in her right to be annoyed about it. As if he could sense her disgruntlement, the obnoxious rat piped up again.
“No one wanna spend their Friday afternoons listenin’ to y’alls angsty poems!”
“That’s not our fault!” Traxex retorted, crossing her arms.
"Fucking Grimstroke said that’s the only day we can use the Art room!”

Suddenly, she felt Shendel jolt at her side. The harpy gave her a swift nudge and turned back, nodding at Mireska with a knowing glint in her eyes. The fairy immediately caught on, and her relaxed expression dropped in an instant.
Traxex couldn’t hold back the grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Oh yeah!” She leaned toward the fairy, who went rigid.
“Oh no...” Came the response.
“Mireska.“ She had to stop herself from outright smirking - this was too perfect.
“Trax, I-“
“You owe us a favour, don’t you? ”
With a frustrated grumble, Mireska threw her head back against the wall. Traxex tilted her head upwards, completely unable to hide her satisfied smile. Oh how the tables had turned indeed!
Beside the fairy, Rhasta and Meepo began to laugh.
“Aw c’mon! I was hopin’ yae’d forgotten ‘bout that!” She slumped forward, slapping her leg in the process. Meepo chortled even harder from his corner.
“It’s Traxex and Shendel.” He cackled.
“Course they didn’t, what did ya expect?”
Mireska turned back to Traxex with a desperate stare. The elf had to bite her cheeks.
“She did’nae even call me back, though!” The fairy whined further. Traxex gave an exaggerated shrug.
“It’s not my fault you scared her off.” She replied, nonchalantly. Mireska opened her mouth with a stammer, then just scoffed and flung herself back against the wall, her face creasing in a defeated scowl. Traxex could only keep up her triumphant grin while Rhasta put a hand on the fairy’s shoulder with a chuckle.
“Gods help you, you absolute sap!”
Traxex found herself heartily agreeing with the troll. Beside her, Shendel leaned forward, her expression soft which sparked a small hint of irritation in Traxex.
“We’ve already planned the themes for the first two months. It’ll be lots of fun!” She chirped.
“Trust me, you’ll love it!”
Traxex turned back to smirk at Mireska, who didn’t respond, only sulking further while her friends howled with laughter around her.

Traxex glared down at her watch. The hand seemed to crawl along with each passing second. With a huff, she looked back up at the top of the room where their art teacher was droning on behind his ornate crimson mask, pointing his bony finger at a diagram of the human body.
“These muscles are integral to the form. A true artist should know each by name!” The teacher kept his head up, eyeing them all with an air of superiority.
“I’m well aware that it’s a lot for your tiny minds to take in and comprehend, but the least you can do is make an effort to memorise what they look like.”
Traxex let out a snort and cast a disgruntled gaze toward those filthy jocks. Her glance landed on Strygwyr, whose tail wagged excitedly as he grinned and whispered something to his three cohorts. Sven gave him a disruptive shove and Huskar rolled his eyes and Traxex turned away in disgust. This was meant to be her class for her people, and those four had NO place here.
Traxex looked to her other side, and let her eyes rest on what Shendel was doodling in her notebook. A rather grim and badass face with a jet black fringe over one of his red eyes and a wide, sexy grin. At the top, some swirly writing read ‘Succulent the Murderer’.
“Only Grimstroke could make drawing this boring.” The harpy muttered under her breath. Traxex nodded in silent agreement. Shendel’s drawing was much cooler than anything she had seen their teacher create, and it was definitely cooler than his malarkey about anatomy and muscles. The sentiment seemed to be shared by the rest of the room, as they all fidgeted and shuffled in their seats.
Grimstroke, however, didn’t care, as he simply clasped his hands together to address the class.
“We’re going to start off the semester with some life drawing.”
He stood up from his seat, his long, patterned robe trailing behind him, and pointed to the centre of the sunlit room. Traxex let out a huff as she got out of her chair, along with the rest of the small group. The students dragged their chairs into a circle, Traxex keeping close to Shendel, Mireska and Meepo as she scanned the room. She cast a longing look down at Taro and Akasha, quickly looking away with a hot flush of embarrassment when the latter turned her head toward her. It had been two days since she had dared to ask them the question, but shame still followed her like an icy shadow. Her embarrassment turned to bitterness when her gaze rested on Rylai. The blonde had been quiet, but this didn’t surprise Traxex since she was vastly outnumbered and powerless without her gaggle. She turned her nose up to stare down Grimstroke as he prowled along the outskirts of the circle.
“Now,” he began, spreading his arms in a wide gesture.
“Who shall be our subject for today?”
Most of the room shuffled and cast glances at each other, until, as if on cue, a striped hand shot up and Traxex immediately cringed.
“Sir, oh Sir!” Came the ever grating call, to immediate groans from the rest of the class.
“I shalt be yonder model! I hath learned many a trick from mine mother dearest!” Magina continued, strutting to the middle of the circle while several burst out into laughter.
“Yeah, go on, Magina! Show us those stripes!!” Meepo jeered, his tail lashing. Traxex rolled her eyes, but Grimstroke didn’t acknowledge the heckling, only beckoning for the rest of them to grab easels and paper. With a shake of her head, she turned to Shendel.
“Magina is the absolute last thing I want to draw.” She grumbled.
Shendel let out a wistful sigh.
“I wish someone hot could have volunteered instead.”
Traxex pulled her hood up, glancing down at the floor before grabbing her pencil and paper and setting up to draw.

The bell rang out and Traxex stuffed her pencils back into their case, irritation prickling at her like a bed of needles. The noise level in the room was raucous with laughter and Grimstroke stood rigid at the top, his golden eyes burning behind his mask.
“I cannot believe this!” The teacher snarled, pointing a finger toward Magina, who stood trembling on the podium, his hair and clothes almost entirely coated with splotches of paint. Grimstroke turned his gaze over to the pack of brutes who were high-fiving each other, dropping the now empty tubes of paint on a shelf as they walked past him.
“You might think this class is nothing more than a doss, but if you dare disrespect art again I will have you thrown in detention faster than you can say pointillism!”
The jocks didn’t respond, only laughing harder on their way out of the room, with the rest of the class slowly trickling out behind them. The last one out was Rylai, who gripped neatly folded sheets in her hands while she scowled out at the jocks. Traxex gave the blonde one last sneer to send her off, before looking around the almost empty room. Her heart leapt a bit when she saw Meepo still lingering by the sulking Mireska, but it sank almost immediately when the rat gave her a light thump on the arm.
“Have fun, Shakespeare.” He chuckled. The fairy let out a scoff.
“Shakespeare wrote plays, ye dafty!” She cuffed him around one of his large ears as he padded off, lifting a paw for a lazy goodbye. Traxex suppressed a sigh.
There was a long grumble behind her, and Traxex turned to see that it’s source was Grimstroke. He had made his way over to his desk, kneeling on the floor, shimmying off the lock on one of his cabinets and creaking the door open.
“I see you’ve found all of one person for your little club.” The phantom sneered as he stood back up with a bottle of wine in his withered hand. Traxex crossed her arms.
“Class literally just ended!” She snapped, stamping her foot.
“I’m certain more people are gonna show up!”
A loud pop sounded as Grimstroke pulled the cork from the bottle.
“Well, you have until all this filth has been cleaned up.”
The three girls stood silently, swapping baffled glances amongst each other. Shendel opened her mouth to speak, but Grimstroke snapped his fingers at her with a slight shake of his head.
“Get to it then.” The teacher ordered.
“Dickhead!” Mireska snarled under her breath while Shendel let out a heavy sigh. Traxex kept her mouth shut, but in the pocket of her hoodie she squeezed her fists until they hurt.

With a huff, Traxex threw the mop back onto the trolley, making small droplets of water spill onto the floor. She leaned against the wall for a moment and wiped her forehead. She still felt anger bubbling in her chest, but it was soothed ever so slightly by the clean floors and neatly stacked shelves. Her irritation prickled back up when Grimstroke gave a satisfied grunt, looking up from his fancy art magazine.
“Not too shabby.” He raised a lazy brow and got up from his rickety chair, pulling up his messenger bag from the floor.
“However, you’re still only three.”
The teacher zipped up his bag, nonchalantly stretching his shoulders.
“You were naive to think that any of the rubes in this building would be interested in anything more than cheap beer, sports and reality tv!”
Traxex scowled harshly at him, pulling her hood up. Beside her, Shendel gripped her talons on her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” the harpy reassured her softly.
“We can still go back to your place to write-“
Shendel was cut off, once again, by what sounded like a stampede of hooves clicking down the hallway. Traxex turned to the door as it slammed open, and her despair was replaced by a white hot flash of fury. Looking back at her, with the widest, stupidest of idiotic grins, were Ai and Riki. The centaur clasped her hands together.
“Is the poetry club still on?” She asked with a chirp, her ears fluttering. Beside her, Riki wavered awkwardly on his hooves. A snort sounded from behind Traxex and Shendel.
“Oh would ye look,” Mireska sneered, her fangs visible.
“Whole Foods and Burberry have graced us wae their presence!”
Riki visibly flinched at this, but given how he just latched onto Rylai like some preppy parasite, Traxex decided she would save her sympathy for someone who actually deserved it.
“Very convenient for you guys to show up after the room’s been cleaned!” She folded her arms and straightened her posture.
“You can forget about joining! There’s no way in any of the hells that I’m letting either of you in, Ai!”
A tense silence fell over the room. Talons could be heard scraping against the floor as Shendel tapped her foot and drummed her fingers together. Riki flicked his tail and took a step forward.
“I ... I think we got off on the wrong foot,” he stammered. Traxex only narrowed her eyes further.
“I’m not stupid, new boy!” She snapped.
“I heard what you and your little posse were saying about us!”
She glowered pointedly at Ai, who kept up her dopey smile. A flutter of wings broke the further silence.
“So, we can go home then, aye?” Mireska had slung the strap of her bag across her chest and was leaning toward the door. Traxex sighed, backing away as Ai took a step forward.
“I’ve always been interested in poetry, for ages like!” The centaur pulled a clear plastic box out of her bag.
“I even brought Sproink Granola bars for everyone! Grimstroke and all!” She nodded with a flick of her ears toward the teacher, who acknowledged her with a half hearted grumble.

Suddenly, Traxex felt claws scrape the back of her neck as Shendel tugged her to a corner of the room by her hood. She turned her back on the unwelcome arrivals, pouting under her fringe and looked up at Shendel, rage still steaming in her stomach.
“Could we give them a chance?” The harpy asked. Traxex couldn’t stop herself from audibly gasping.
“Shendel are you serious?” She tilted her head.
“They're with Rylai. You do remember that, right?”
Shendel’s hopeful expression fell slightly, but Traxex had to stand her ground, dropping her gaze to the floor.
“I’d rather not bother with this if they’re the only other people interested!” She grumbled. The disappointment was enough to make her want to wail out loud, but she wasn’t about to let Ai see that, not if she wanted to hold onto whatever bite-sized amount of dignity was left in her.
Shendel looked out past her, wringing her hands, before turning back and placing a talon on Traxex’s shoulder.
“But maybe like ... this is an opportunity for things to change.” She responded with a shrug. Traxex peered behind her, where the other three were standing. Ai was shuffling about, admiring the decorated walls while Mireska was pointedly staring at her phone. Riki stood in between them and Traxex locked eyes with the pest of a satyr before turning back to look up at Shendel. The harpy promptly clasped her hands together.
“Can we even just try it? Just today?” She gave a small hop.
“Just to see how it goes?”
Traxex let out a heavy sigh, then gave a begrudging nod.
“Fine,” she huffed.
“But if Ai or the goat try anything, then I’m cancelling it on the spot!”
Shendel let out a suppressed squeak, gripped at Traxex and shook her slightly before bounding off.

Traxex turned to regard the ensemble. Anger still simmered under the surface when she raked her gaze over Rylai’s subordinates, but at least here they were outnumbered.
“Right. Poetry Club is on!” She announced.
Riki’s face immediately brightened up and he scampered to grab a chair along with Ai, who carefully trotted across the room. Behind them, Mireska shook her head, stuffing her phone back into her pocket and tossing her bag off to the side. A groan sounded from the top of the room as Grimstroke slumped listlessly into his chair, popping open his bottle once more and taking a long swig. Traxex looked over at Shendel who was giddily fishing a notebook from her bag. She trusted her, absolutely, in spite of the nagging in the back of her mind that Rylai was up to something. Whatever it was, they could at least tackle it together when the time came.
For now, it was time to start the first meeting of the Poetry Club.

Chapter Text

With a creak of the door, the three girls funneled out of the house and into the small, verdant garden lit under the yellowing sky. Traxex clutched the strap of her bag in one hand and gripped her bow more tightly in the other. She trudged along beside Lyralei and Shendel, but she let herself lag behind and kept her gaze ahead of her, forcing down the sparks of jealousy that prickled under her skin. It mingled with guilt and she pouted at the sound of the other girls’ light giggling. Traxex didn’t want to look, but she was painfully aware of Shendel pressed close to Lyralei’s side. She should have been happy for her friends, so she kept telling herself, but a part of her couldn’t shake the idea that the way they held hands and walked so close together was just downright mocking.
Traxex cast a longing look over at Shendel, a part of her hoping that she would look back and notice her hurt look, but the harpy was too engrossed in rambling about some slasher movie which apparently had her parents all up in arms. Demolition Dave or something.
With a suppressed sigh, Traxex turned her gaze back to the pavement as the girls made their way toward the towering woodland.

The breeze felt icy against Traxex’s face while she studied the target, bright black and white against the deep red sky and orange leaves on the surrounding oak trees. She pulled up her bow, silently hoping the leaves were still strong enough to cling to the branches and not end up blown into her face from the gusts. With a deep inhale, she pulled the string of her bow back, the wooded forest blurring until her only focus was the target. Then, with an exhale, she released the string as a gust of wind blasted her from the side.

The arrow zipped through the air, but veered slightly to the side, missing the target and scraping the bark of the tree as it landed in an adjacent bush. Traxex slouched forward with a groan. From the side, slow clapping could be heard over the wind.
“Look, it’s the Robin Hood of Runesville Middle!”
She turned her head to face Lyralei, leaning on one foot. She was next to Shendel who had taken her usual spot on the old, fallen log, staring right down at her sketchbook. Traxex gave a huff.
“Here, it’s your turn.” She muttered as she tossed the beaten bow to Lyralei, who caught it gracefully in the air. She continued past her friend, feet heavy on the slightly damp grass and she sat down next to Shendel. The harpy didn’t notice as she clutched a ballpoint pen and scribbled away. Traxex looked down at the page to see a spiky haired boy with a smug smirk and sharp, sparkling eyes. She shifted awkwardly, and took a deep breath.
“That looks really cool!” Traxex’s voice cracked a bit more than she had wished for. Shendel didn’t look up, but the smile forming across her lips was enough to make her heart skip a beat.
“He’s from that new anime!” Shendel chirped as she continued to scribble. Traxex paused for a moment, her mind buzzing like a hive of bees.

“Watch and learn, Trax!”
Lyralei’s confident call broke her out of her thoughts. Traxex turned back around to see her friend poised, eyes sharply on the target. With a flick of her amber hair which shimmered in the setting sun, she drew the bow.
“Just so you know,” the elf called back.
“I missed on purpose so you wouldn’t look bad.”
She chuckled as Lyralei readied her shot. Shendel looked up right as she fired, and Traxex felt her smile fall when the arrow hit the target with a loud ‘thunk’.

Chapter Text

Raijin finished his writing, pulling away from the whiteboard with a flourish. Riki quickly scribbled down the week's homework as the teacher clapped his hands together.
“That will be all! Off you pop for lunch!” He announced. The sound of rustling and bags zipping filled the room, followed by the screech of chairs and contented chatter. Riki pulled himself off his chair and began to follow the stream. As he made it to the front, however, he heard Raijin call out behind him.
“Riki! May I have a word with you for a few minutes?” He asked.
Riki felt his shoulders sink slightly. He stood awkwardly at the door while the rest of the class pushed out past him, some snickering and casting glances at him. His ears perked as Shendel passed by, giving him a wave, but Rylai cut her off and sneered something under her breath. That uncomfortable pit in his stomach that had followed him around last week came bubbling back. He had felt that some of the tension had been cleared after he’d joined the poetry club, but didn’t feel comfortable with the look Rylai had given the harpy.

“Riki?”
Riki was jolted by Raijin pulling a chair up to his desk and giving it a pat. He trudged over, taking a seat and neatly moving his tail to the side as the teacher regarded him with kind eyes and a warm smile.
“So,” he propped an elbow on his desk.
“How was your first week?”
Rik looked off to the side, squinting slightly. It could have been worse, sure, but he would be lying if he said he felt optimistic about where things were going to go.
He shrugged his shoulders.
“It was fine.”
The teacher let out a small, yet hearty laugh.
“Now Riki, it may have been a whole century ago,” Raijin replied, stroking his beard.
“But I still remember what it was like at that age.”
Riki flattened his ears and looked down at his hands, twiddling his thumbs in the process. Raijin didn’t seem to notice as he carried on.
“Before settling here, my family used to move around a lot, so my brothers and I were always the new kids.” Raijin looked wistfully out of the window, seemingly lost in thought for a moment.
“The first week was always the hardest.”
He took his elbow off the table and leaned forward slightly.
“It can be tough when everyone already has their cliques and groups and so on, but I can tell you, they’re a good bunch of kids.”
Riki could only respond with a slight nod. Raijin had been through this with him last Monday, and he wasn’t entirely sure he could believe that. Even the girls who had taken him under their wing hadn’t given him much attention, and other students seemed to regard him with further indifference...or even flat out hostility. Raijin tilted his head up slightly and Riki attempted to give him an appreciative smile. Then in an instant, the room was filled with the sound of crackling electricity.

Riki turned in his chair and his eyes went wide when he saw his English teacher standing in the doorway, tightly gripping two cups of coffee in his gloved hands. Raijin beamed over at his colleague, but Razor only responded with a huff under his helmet.
“What is going on?” He demanded, voice laced with outrage which caused a slight ringing in Riki’s ears. Raijin, however, didn’t seem bothered by this.
“Ah, I was just asking Rik here how his first week went.” The history teacher chuckled. Razor gave a snort.
“Well nobody has bothered to ask how my week went!” He whined.
Riki could feel his fur starting to raise, and he turned back to Raijin with a pathetically pleading look.
“Can I go have my lunch, Sir?”
The history teacher gave him a nod and a tip of his hat and looked back up to address the thundering figure.
“Come now, Razor, you know I’m always interested in hearing from you.” He began to reassure, while Riki slung his bag over his shoulder and took off scampering down the hall. He could still hear Razor’s high pitched whine as he beelined for the cafeteria.

As Riki stepped into the room, relief washed over him when he saw Rylai waving him over. He gave the girls a warm smile as he strode over to their table, but it was replaced by an icy dread when he noticed their faces twisted in mocking smiles. In the middle of the table was Ai’s vegan themed phone with slightly muffled audio playing from it just loud enough to be heard over the noise of the cafeteria. From the speaker, Traxex’s voice could be heard reading out her poem from Friday.

"In the harrowing blackness, the crow knows no light.
her only guiding beacon is the swan.
with feathers as pure as snow, she has no need for the moon"

The girls burst out into high pitched screeches of laughter. Riki cringed when he heard his own voice complimenting her work. At this, their laughter grew louder.
“I don’t know how either of you could keep a straight face during that nonsense!” Mortred wheezed, wiping a tear from her eye.
Riki felt all words catching in his throat as he shot panicked gazes at each of the girls. Rylai looked up at him.
“Stop standing there like a creep,” she barked through her high pitched giggling and pointed at the seat across from her.
“Sit down!”
Riki didn’t move, or rather, he couldn’t move. He felt that deep discomfort practically gnawing at his stomach like a ravenous wolf, and it froze his hooves to the floor. One by one, the girls glowered up at him.
“Dude, what’s your problem?” Lyralei demanded, curling her lip.
Riki locked eyes with Ai, who quickly averted her gaze to her hands.
“Is that why you wanted to join the Poetry Club?” He asked, tail starting to bush out.
The centaur didn’t respond, only looking back over at her phone. Rylai, however, flicked her hair and leaned against the table.
“That’s exactly why both of you joined. Isn’t it?” She fixed Riki with a glare that chilled him deep to the bone. Taking a step back, he shook his head.
“No ... no that’s ... why would you do that?”
Rylai’s face slowly twisted into a purely disgusted snarl, causing Riki to almost flinch. From the side, Lyralei let out a malicious laugh.
“He’s probably in love with Fatxex!” She shouted up with an unusual crack in her voice.
With a shift, Ai looked back up at him.
“He definitely is,” she added, although her voice shook slightly.
“I saw him making eyes at her through the whole meeting.”
The girls broke out into further shrieking laughter that suddenly felt like sharp talons raking through his skin leaving deep cuts. He took a step back as Rylai flashed him a disdainful smile.
“Why don’t you run off to your little girlfriend then, freak!”
Riki wanted no part in their bullying, and the way Rylai snarled at him left an uncomfortable jolt shooting down his spine. As the girls continued to jeer him, he turned and scuttered away out of the door and into the deserted halls.

The classroom seemed to blur around him and the only thing clear in Riki’s vision was his empty notebook open on the table with half finished scrawls of scripture passages. It had been a very long day, and he had lost any motivation to keep up with the teacher’s uncoordinated rambling.
“I was lost,” Chen announced, hand placed over his heart dramatically. Riki exhaled heavily through his nose.
“In the intersection of life. It was only when God became my traffic light, did I know when to go and when to slow down!”
He raised his hands to the slightly flickering fluorescent lamps on the ceiling, as if he was looking right into God’s guiding light. Scattered laughter rippled through the class, and Riki sighed heavily. Maybe Chen actually believed the ceiling was his promised land.
Feeling demotivation tugging at him, Riki looked down and began to scribble on the page. Chen may have been lost in the intersection of life or whatever, but Riki seemed to have found himself lost in the intersection of petty high school drama, and the traffic light was broken. To his left, Rhasta was silent, jamming away to that heavy music blasting so loud Riki could hear it through the troll’s headphones. He didn’t dare look over to his right. It was most likely his mind, but he could have sworn the air around Rylai felt frostier. It was great work, managing to get on the bad side of the most popular girl in school after one week. He should have been relieved, it’s not like he wanted to be friends with them if they were going to be that cruel to people, but he couldn’t shake the dread hanging over him like a dark, heavy cloud.

Riki jumped at a flash of motion out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and to the side to see Mirana had turned to him, eyeing him cautiously. Without a word, she extended her hand with catlike grace and dropped a slip of paper on his desk, immediately turning back around before he could even get a word in. Looking back down, he carefully unfolded the paper and scanned the cursive, slightly shaky hand writing.

Hello, Riki,
We haven’t been properly introduced, however, that’s in part due to Rylai, who I doubt wouldn’t let you stand within 50 feet of me let alone speak to me.
Now, since you’ve seen what the Ice Queen is really like, we can talk more freely. Meet me at Broodmother’s Bakery after school.
Lina

Riki looked back up, craning his neck slightly to see over Meepo’s large ears in front of him. He spotted the distinct blazing red hair of Lina just in front of the rat. Riki hoped she’d turn around, but the girl kept her back to him. He sank back in his chair and the cloud grew darker still.

Chapter Text

An amazed gasp escaped Riki as he entered the warm, dimly lit cafe and the sweet scent of bread hit his nose. From the outside, ‘Broodmother’s Bakery’ seemed like nothing more than a neat but rather plain little shop, however, the interior was well decorated and bustling. The atmosphere practically rivalled that of his favourite bakeries back in the city. Riki made his way to the counter, carefully stepping over the spiderlings bustling about the place. At the counter, a massive spider was tending to a customer, her mandibles clicking as she spoke. Riki turned back to the display case and his mouth watered when his gaze landed on a cut of fluffy, dark bread decorated in a light jelly.
“Wow! I didn’t think they’d actually have tango bread here!” He breathed, his mouth hanging open.
A snort sounded behind him, and Riki whipped around, his fur prickling. He came face to face with Lina, who was eyeing him curiously with an amused smirk.
“Sorry, I ...” he began to stammer.
“I just ... really like bread.”
Lina simply strode up to his side and peered into the display case, her blue eyes narrowed intently.
“I can see that.” She let out a chuckle and turned back to him.
“Grab a seat, lunch is on me.”
The girl gave a flick of her hand, to which Riki responded with a grateful nod and quickly glanced around the bakery for an empty table. His eyes fell on Lanaya and he froze for a second. That girl, he had no idea what she meant to Rylai, but he didn’t exactly want to be seen here by her. Thankfully, she seemed to be glued to her laptop plugged into an outlet on the wall, tapping away on the keys. Riki looked away from her, and darted toward an empty table in the far, opposite corner of the shop.

Riki’s tail swished in anticipation as Lina made her way over, with a coffee in one hand and a plate in the other. The plate had barely hit the table when Riki swiped the fluffy, round tango bread and began tearing into it. Lina just quietly watched him, pulling a can out of her coat pocket and cracking the lid.
“I promised my mom I’d cut down on caffeine but...” She mumbled, her voice trailing off as she took a very long swig. Riki eyed the red and gold can as she placed it back down on the table, noting the small dragon silhouette under scrawly lettering that read ‘Wyrmade’.
“My brother tried one of those after we got here,” he noted, trying to force away the awkwardness in his voice.
“He ... hated it. He said spicy energy drinks are like ... an abomination or something.”
A surge of nerves shot down his spine when Lina frowned slightly, but, she promptly let out a small laugh.
“Well, your brother has poor taste.” She leaned forward. Riki wasn’t sure what to say in response, and so went back to his bread, taking small bites and feeling an uncomfortable burning on his skin under Lina’s unblinking stare. He took another glance up at her. This was a stark contrast to sitting with Rylai just one week ago. Lina sat with her back straight and her hands clasped neatly in front of her.
“It was bound to happen sooner or later.” She sighed. Riki stopped chewing, feeling a sense of dread.
“What was bound to happen?” He asked, carefully swallowing his bite of bread. Lina’s face slowly twisted into a scowl and her eyes narrowed to near slits.
“Rylai is all smiles and compliments,” she snarled.
“Right up until you dare disagree with her.”
Lina leaned back a little bit, her expression glazing over slightly. Riki just continued to munch away on the delicious bread. Something was telling him not to speak out of line.
“The class president elections take place at the end of October.” She continued, the anger in her tone turning suddenly formal.
“In the last two years, I’ve managed to get my wins, even though Rylai has tried to sabotage me. Both times!”
Riki’s ears pricked up. Lina was popular wasn’t she? She stood with the popular kids in Gym class and she seemed to be well liked, particularly by the boys. Did Rylai see her as a rival?
“That seems ... really petty.” He muttered in between bites of bread.
“It’s more than petty!” He jumped when Lina, quick as a flash, brought her hand down hard on the table with a loud bang, causing several people in the cafe to look over at them. Lina, however, did not take her eyes off him.
“I won’t qualify for my scholarship if I don’t win it. Do you understand what that means?” He shivered as he heard her voice crack and her eyes blazed.
“Can you believe my own sister would do this to me?!”

Riki left his mouth hanging open. He stared up at her, trying to picture Rylai’s soft face and pale, blonde hair in contrast to Lina’s sharper features framed by her fiery, red hair.
“She’s ... she’s your sister?!” He stammered. Lina just chuckled.
“Yeah, it’s not the first time I’ve gotten that reaction.”
She paused for a moment, seemingly staring out past him as her smile turned sour.
“Rylai’s scholarship is pretty much secured, thanks to being captain of the cheerleading team.” She ended her sentence with a shake of her head and Riki felt that uneasy sensation beginning to gnaw at his stomach again.
“So ... why did you wanna talk to me?” He wiped some crumbs from the corner of his mouth with a napkin, trying to be careful with his tone.
“What’s any of this got to do with me?”
Lina clasped her hands back in front of her and just stared at him. She took a deep breath.
“Both times I had to rely on ... catering ... to the whims of the popular kids, the jocks and the athletes.” While her voice was calm, Riki noticed her crinkling her nose and curling her lip slightly.
“But, as hard as I have worked to earn their favour, Rylai’s worked just a little bit harder to sway them back to her!”
She ended her sentence with a sigh and Riki found himself slowly nodding, not surprised in the slightest.
“However,” she raised a finger.
“There is one place Rylai won’t touch, no matter what.”
She pointed right at Riki, who instinctively shrank in his seat, starting to feel nauseous as she smirked at him.
“I realised the amount of voting power that the students like you have!”
Riki flattened his ears.
“Like me?” He frowned. Lina just waved a hand.
“Yeah, the nerds ... the outcasts.” She shrugged slightly. Riki flicked his tail. This girl barely even knew him! A slightly awkward look came over her face as she continued.
“Because of my ... past ... most of them still have a bit of a hard time completely trusting me.”
With that, she clapped her hands together and leaned forward.
“That brings us to you.”

Riki’s heart plummeted.
“Me?” He shrank in his seat slightly.
“Yes, you!” Lina nodded. She paused for a second and took a long swig of the cup of coffee she had bought along with her energy drink and Riki winced. Surely that amount of caffeine wasn’t healthy. She half slammed the cup down on the table.
“You can get me a foothold with these students!”
Riki stared at her, slack jawed, and gulped hard.
“Wha ... I ...” He stammered.
“I ... I mean, what do you even expect me to do?”
How was he meant to explain that, thanks to getting scooped up by Rylai, none of the outcasts seemed to want anything to do with him? Those punks had just been dismissive of him, while Traxex seemed ready to rip his tail off at the drop of a hat. As for the other nerds, he hadn’t really had much luck speaking with them with the exception of Shendel, but she seemed to be nice to everyone so did that really count?
“I don’t ... I’m not really involved with anything going on.”
Lina’s smile grew unnervingly wide.
“That’s exactly it!” She exclaimed, spreading her arms.
“You’re not involved in anything. Nobody knows you and you don’t know anyone else!”
Riki couldn’t help but shudder slightly at the conniving gleam in her eyes.
“So no one would find it suspicious if you started putting in a good word for me!”
She seemed to almost light ablaze as she clasped her hands together once more and sat up completely straight.
“If you do this for me, then any damage that my sister has done to your reputation will be fixed, I promise you!”

At this point, Riki felt nausea bubbling in his stomach like hot lava. He began to squirm out of his chair and tried to force the fur on his tail to lie flat.
“I ... I have to head home now.” He ran a hand through his hair in a pathetic attempt to be casual.
“Thanks for the bread ... I’ll ... see you tomorrow ...”
As he stumbled away, he had to stop himself from flinching when Lina called after him.
“Maybe start with your little Poetry Club?”
Riki didn’t respond. Instead, he locked eyes with Lanaya, who was scowling at him as he crashed out of the doorway and onto the cold pavement.

Chapter Text

Riki stepped out onto the pavement with a heavy click of his hooves, stopping to take a deep breath in the warm early autumn air. At the very back of his head he felt a small, dull ache: the last thing he needed on a Monday. With a sigh, he slung his bag over his shoulder. A walk wouldn’t hurt him, he figured. It would be good to clear out the noise buzzing in his brain like an agitated bee hive. He tucked his hands into his pockets and set off down the street, silhouetted by the blue afternoon sky.

Riki felt his shoulders sag. He should have known Rylai would turn on him eventually. The way she had acted on the first day should have been enough of a warning. Now, he had somehow gotten involved in some weird war between her and Lina, and he didn’t seem to have much of a choice in it.
What was it all even for? Just for things to go differently than his old school. Clenching his fists, he kicked a small rock and watched as it skidded across the road, where it landed in front of an unfortunately familiar figure.

With a grin, his younger brother bent down and picked up the rock, wasting no time in launching it right back at Riki, who let out a yelp as he ducked to the side. The rock chipped his ear, leaving a harsh sting. Riki recoiled and stamped his hoof.
“Hey!” He shouted across the street.
“That hurt, you little twerp!”
He noticed a kobold beside his brother, smaller and scruffier than Meepo. The two kids just swapped glances then burst out laughing as they scampered off down the street.
“That was my brother!” He heard Kayden shout out.
“He’s such a loser!”
Riki snorted and flicked his tail as their voices trailed off. Even Kayden, one of the most irritating creatures on the planet, had managed to make a friend before him. Letting out one more sigh, he kept on his own way down the road to the Midlane square.

Riki hadn’t had much of a chance to explore the plaza since he arrived in Runesville. The pavement was lined with quaint little shops and it opened up into the titular square. Riki let himself marvel slightly at the fenced in flowers and small trees surrounded by benches in the centre. He scanned the many people relaxing and making their way from shop to shop, until his eyes landed on a rather old looking store decorated with golden letters that spelled out ‘Elazor’s Antiques’. Above the shop name was a bronze statue of a galloping horse. Riki trotted over to it and peered into the glass window. On display were many strange items - finely carved wooden statues, ornate clocks, and even a large taxidermy bird.
A small jingle snapped Riki out of his trance and he looked over to see the scrawny, hunched over frame of his classmate Dazzle emerging from the shop, clutching small wooden boxes in his bony hands, the smallest of smiles barely visible under his tangled hair. That was the first time Riki had ever seen the troll smile. If there was any time to try to get to know him, now would be it. Riki promptly trotted over to him.
“Hey Dazzle!” He called out, almost a bit too desperately and making the troll jump. Dazzle turned around and froze on the spot, staring at him wide eyed.
“It’s Riki!” He continued. Dazzle still didn’t respond.
“You know ... from school?”
He felt a tingle of embarrassment run down his spine and into his tail. Could he not go ten seconds without sounding so lame? Dazzle kept quiet, only giving him a nod before turning away. Riki, however, was not going to give up that easily. He leapt forward and kept in pace beside Dazzle.

“I just came from Broodmother’s.” He began.
“You’ve been there before, right?”
Dazzle kept his gaze on the pavement. It was a dumb question, definitely.
“Well, I didn’t think they’d do Tango Bread there.” Riki continued. Maybe if he just kept talking Dazzle would pipe up eventually. Hells, he’d take being told to shut up at this point.
“Tango Bread is just, incredible, especially when it’s baked properly and not like, manufactured and all of that. Factories just can’t replicate the same crunch in the loaf mixed with the light jelly. It’s a labour of love and-“
He trailed off when he looked down at one of the boxes Dazzle was gripping. Resting in the thick wooden panes under crystal clear glass, were the shapes of colourful, very intricately patterned butterflies, all neatly labelled with their latin names in cursive writing. Riki’s eyes widened.
“Woah.” He breathed.
“Those are really cool.”
Beside him, he heard a very small, low wheeze as Dazzle stirred.
“I ... I collect butterflies.” The troll stammered. Riki couldn’t stop the grin from forming on his face. Finally, he was getting somewhere.
“You know, back in the city there was a park that was always filled with butterflies.” He chattered.
“I used to go there every Summer to look at them.”
Dazzle turned his head ever so slightly.
“I spent ... I spent a lot of my time off over the Summer going to the park here.” He muttered.
“There’s a lot of ... a lot of really good spots.”
Riki felt a small flame of hope flicker in his chest. He began to wring his hands slightly.
“Maybe you ... could show me those spots sometime?”
Dazzle only shook his head and let out a wheeze that got lost in the rustling of the trees.
“I won’t have time.”
Riki felt his heart sink. Surely Dazzle didn’t think he was some uncool weirdo too? What would Dazzle even find lame about him?
“I have to work ... and ... and stay on top of homework.” The troll sighed. Riki only gave him a slow nod and furrowed his brow, hoping Dazzle would pick up on his sympathy.

They kept walking in silence as the yellow sky turned orange. Riki had wanted to keep talking about the butterflies, but Dazzle’s small bout of energy seemed to have faded. Rounding the street corner, Riki cringed as they came face to face with a horribly gaudy looking shop. The pink paint was uncomfortably saturated, only made more overwhelming by the tacky LED lights and glittery detailing. Compared to the normal, eye pleasing shops on the street, this was just a flat out eyesore. Dazzle seemed to agree too, as he dropped his gaze right to his feet.
“I ... I have to go now ...” He wheezed, a tinge of regret in his voice.
“You work here?” Riki asked, hoping that just maybe, he could get through to Dazzle enough to say he had made a friend. The troll only gave a small nod.
“Sha- my mother owns it.” He wheezed, his voice becoming laced with tension.
Riki looked up at the bright, simple lettering at the head of the shop.
‘Dazzle Nails and Cosmetics!’
He let out a small gasp and glanced over at Dazzle before looking back up.
“Hey! Your mom named the shop after you!” He laughed.
“That’s really sweet!”
He looked back down at Dazzle, but the troll didn’t respond, in fact, he didn’t even smile. Instead, he simply shuffled to the front door and pulled out a heavy set of keys that jingled as he put them in the lock and twisted it.

“Well ...” Riki rubbed his own arm, feeling even more awkward than before.
“I hope you uh ... have a good evening.” He gave Dazzle a small wave to little response. Let down, he turned on his hooves and set off towards a side path that led into Radiant Hills. Before he could reach the gate, a near screech made him jump, almost out of his skin. He whipped around to see Dazzle hanging out of the nail shop door, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.
“Don- don’t ... don’t go down ... down there!” The troll called out.
Riki raised a brow and flicked his tail, but Dazzle didn’t give him a chance to respond.
“The jocks ... the jocks they ... they ... the road passes by a park,” he wheezed.
“The jocks play Outposting in that park!”
Riki opened his mouth to reply, but Dazzle quickly pulled back into the shop and slammed the door. Dumbfounded, he looked down the long, winding road. Surely the jocks wouldn’t bother him. He’s hardly said a word to any of them, what kind of problem would they even take with him? He took a step forward, but stopped as the sun sank further into the sky, tinting it deep red. The road suddenly became engulfed in shadows and Riki felt a pit in his stomach when he remembered that Rylai now had a problem with him, and if what Lina said was true then...
Riki shook his head and turned away, heading back up towards the main street. A bit of a walk wouldn’t hurt him anyway.