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Nano was in that weird frame of mind that slipped in and out of consciousness when she was trying to listen to a podcast at two in the morning. Lomadia was sleeping quietly in the bed on the other side of the room. The obnoxious, giggling boys upstairs had finally gone to bed, and all was quiet. Nano gave a sleepy smile before rolling over and falling asleep amidst her podcast.
She only got twenty minutes of sleep before the fire alarms went off.
Instantly, the corridor lights flicked on and students started piling out. Some were panicking, others confused and tired. There was a loud thump! from upstairs that added to the footsteps and commotion.
Nano and Lomadia threw on whatever shoes were closest to the door and darted, joining the crowd.
"What's going on?!" Nano shouted at no one in particular as they left the building.
"This better not be like that intruder alert bollocks like a few months ago." The two heard Ravs grumble as they passed. The girls remembered back to when Sips and Turps had stumbled into the dorm building late at night and set off the intruder alarm.
It was 2:20AM when Nano checked her poorly-charged phone. 2:20AM in the middle of December. She was freezing. Only dressed in a shoddy vest top and shorts, she shivered harshly on the spot. Something warm and soft was thrown around her shoulders, and she found Lalna grinning back down at her.
"H-Hey," Nano greeted between chattering teeth.
"You alright?" Lalna asked. He seemed perfectly warm in his pajama pants and sweatshirt.
"Yeah," Nano replied, tugging the blanket closer around her and laughing as Lalna tried to get under it. He mock pouted before laughing.
"D'you think there's actually a fire?" Lalna and Nano were being jostled by a group of admin who were focusing on evacuating students.
A grumpy looking Rythian bundled up in a tangle of dark colors followed behind Ravs on a quest to find his little sister. Said sister Minty was hurrying out of the building with Fiona and Kaeyi with her fire-colored hair. Nano and Lalna watched a messy-haired Zoey reunite with Rythian and drag him over to Fiona, talking quickly. Kaeyi had found a distressed-looking Toby and the two had set off to find Martyn.
"Dunno," Nano sighed. "With the way everyone's acting, I think so."
"I can't see any fire from the windows..." Lalna remarked, inspecting the building from where they stood. Nano hummed in agreement. She tripped over Will (who looked even more frozen than she was), and narrowly avoided a fumbling Parv.
With Nano's 34% charged phone, she picked up a message from Trott.
Walrus Face: get down here now!!
Nano bit at her lip and looked over at Lalna who was looking through the crowd for someone.
"Oh crap, Sjin's coming." Lalna reported to his friend. "Sorry, Nano, but you better scram. He's already pissed at having to wake up..."
Nano nodded to the blond and thought for a moment about their perfect timing. She checked that she wasn't being watched by admin, and darted out of the back of the crowd in the direction of the Trash Frat.
——
"There's a fire raging in my building and you're wanting me down here now?!" Nano asked incredulously as Trott let her into the house.
"Perfect cover," Ross shrugged.
"There's a fire over there?" Smiffy sounded worryingly excited about such topics.
"What do you want anyway?" Nano asked roughly.
"Ssh!" Trott cried. "Everyone else is asleep!"
Nano rolled her eyes. "Look, I already stole the redstone, what more do you want? My debt has been paid, all right?"
Ross hummed. "Well..."
"We need you to drop it off somewhere else," Trott said.
Smiffy, who had been watching out the window for any signs of fire, turned back to the three. "We're going to the video store."
The Hat Crew worked two part-time jobs. One at the Owl Café on Wednesdays, and the other at the video rental store named Legit Rentals on Mondays and Fridays. Turps worked at Legit Rentals sometimes, and he got high off his own supply, so the boys' stash would be safe there.
"No." Nano said sternly, arms crossed.
"No?" The boys chorused incredulously.
"What do you mean 'no'?" Smiffy asked.
"No." Nano repeated. "I paid off your stupid, sketchy deal; I'm done with you three." She turned and began to leave, but Ross grabbed her arm and spun her around.
"Nano Sounds," he started formally, slyly, "it'd be a shame for... say... Sjin ending up with your phone, wouldn't it? All those lovely pictures of you and your friends... I think Lalna is in some of those if I'm not mistaken?"
"Don't you touch my phone." Nano growled. "I already said I'm leaving."
"Whoops!" Smiffy cried, waving Nano's purple-cased phone around. "Already nicked it when Ross grabbed your arm!" Trott laughed in the background, but Nano was too busy fuming to notice. She yanked the device out of his green hands and pocketed it.
"You can do your own drug trafficking from now on. Good day to you sirs!" she said with finality. Nano would've done well in the drama department. She took her phone and stormed out the door, slamming it loudly as she left.
There was some commotion from the house before the three emerged holding cheap-looking water pistols. Nano nearly laughed at how pathetic they were.
"Nano, you better wait!" Trott shouted, water gun held high.
"We'll shoot if you don't come back here!" Ross joined. Nano kept walking.
"These are filled with junk from the MineChem lab. We'll shoot! We'll do it!" Smiffy cried.
Nano laughed cockily. "Yeah, okay, mates. You guys have fun."
Suddenly there was yelling. Nano spun around to face the boys to find out that they did shoot, but the back ends of the cheap toys had exploded, chemicals and all, onto the guys. Nano laughed hard in their faces before dashing off when she heard the front door open to reveal a livid looking Lying. They were clad in weird wizard-looking robes, and Nano noted that something ominous and red was dripping from their one visible eye. The Boys had to deal with their wrath; she did not envy them.
When Nano arrived back at the dorms, only Xephos and Zoey remained outside. Everyone else had either disappeared back into the building or gone somewhere else to get warmed up.
"What happened?" Nano asked the two.
"False alarm." Xephos replied absently, staring up at the stars.
Zoey giggled. "One of the guys burnt their microwaved popcorn and it set off the alarm."
"It was Turps," Xephos added, still in that faraway voice.
Nano gave a small laugh. "He's always involved."
"It's probably Sips' fault, but Turps seems to go along with his bad plans in the first place." Xephos remarked. "Dunno why... Maybe it's because Sips is so convincing..."
Nano left the two with a wave entered the dorm building. Once she made it to her room, she texted Lalna.
Nano Hardy: It was Turps' fault the alarms went off
Definitely Not Lalnable: Shit, really?
NH: Yeah. Xeph says it's Sips' fault
DNL: probably is
DNL: lmao
Nano considered telling Lalna about what had happened at the Trash Frat, but decided he would ask too many unanswerable questions.
DNL: Hey gtg I'm fckin tired
NH: K bye loser
She sent out a quick text to Lomadia before setting up her phone and going to bed.
Nano Hardy: Hey u up at Nilesy's dorm?
Lameadia:At the cafe cleaning up. People came down to warm up after nearly freezin to death outside. I'll b down in a bit.
NH: k
NH: goodnight
L: goodnight