Chapter Text
“-he’ll absolutely kill you if you do it,” Lua’niira was saying as Trifle drifted back over to the group after locking up the first aid kit and all the other equipment up.
“Why is that a motivation to do it?” Karash asked, clearly confused by the logic behind this. Dunkel, however, was grinning like he understood and thought it was funny.
“Do what?” Trifle piped up, making herself known. She always had to announce herself, pretty much everyone in the group had a whole head on her height-wise and if she didn’t speak up she often got lost in the shuffle.
“ Lua’niira ,” Karash said, sounding skeptical and even a little annoyed, “is trying to convince one of us to ask Professor Duskryn a personal question in class tomorrow.”
“Excuse me, I dared you,” Lua’niira corrected.
Trifle, though, didn’t care about those semantics. “What, like about his wife?”
Dunkel and Karash’s eyes both got wide in response. “W-wife?” Karash stuttered, confused again.
“Yeah, you know he and Professor Netyoivee are married right?” Trifle said casually, sitting down on the grass near everyone’s feet and picking at it while they talked. It seemed they were going to be here a while. She said it like it was obvious, because, to her, it was. Really, did these boys pay attention to anything? “I don’t think that’s very personal, anyways. I mean it’s obvious.”
“No it’s not,” Dunkel protested. “How do you even know?”
Trifle looked up at the bearded man like he’d just said something stupid. Which he had. She glanced around at Karash and Lua’niira to see if it was an epidemic. Karash looked as lost as Dunkel, but Lua’niira looked amused. “See, Lua’niira knew,” Trifle said, jutting a thumb at her friend, her hand was full of grass.
“What! No I didn’t!” Lua’niira protested. “They’re just both hot and it would be dumb if they didn’t get together!” She was blushing, and Trifle knew immediately she hadn’t meant to say all of that but had anyways.
“Anyways, Lua’niira knows. And Travis, you knew too right?” she asked. Of course, Travis wasn’t there. Where Travis was not even Trifle knew, probably off morosely playing his horn in one of the university’s many courtyards, or practicing his archery in the near darkness, something ridiculous like that. It didn’t really matter, that was why she’d made Travis-as-Rock after all. She pulled the flat stone out of her pocket, and smoothed out the stuck on eyebrows she’d attached. The googly eyes seemed intact too.
Holding it up near her face, Trifle adopted a voice that was only a little deeper than her own high-pitched one. “Of course, Trifle. I’ve been here forever, I know everything. I remember when they first started dating and when the sun and the moon were new and..”
Lua’niira cut her off, turning back to Karash and Dunkel. “Anyways, I dare you to ask how his weekend was on Monday.”
“That’s all you’re telling them to ask him?” Trifle asked, staring up at Lua’niira, she was the puzzled one this time. “I’ve asked him stuff like that before and it was fine. Of course, I didn’t ask during class, so...” Trifle shrugged. Sure, she wouldn’t say asking had gone well , as most answers not about the curriculum tended to be monosyllabic with Professor Duskryn. But he had answered.
“When did you ask?” Dunkel asked, like he was gathering important information about what to do next.
“During office hours, when else?” Trifle answered simply. She’d found some flowers (she was pretty sure Travis had called them white clover) and began tying them into a necklace (something else Travis had taught her).
Karash seemed to take Trifle’s assertions that asking Professor Duskryn about his weekend wouldn’t result in his premature death or the failing of his course as some sort of reassurance. “Fine, maybe, I’ll think about it.”
Trifle was getting bored. “Can we go to Carrie’s Chicken now? I’m really hungry.” She would just go by herself, but she didn’t know how to drive and it was late and sometimes people in this circle got mad at her when she wandered around by herself late at night. Dunkel had a car, he could drive them.
“Doesn’t it close in like forty-five minutes?” Dunkel asked, stating the obvious. The man had a gift for that.
Trifle rolled her eyes. “Yes, that’s not the point. See, Travis wants to go too.” She didn’t bother to even pick him up when she spoke for him this time. “Yeah, chicken would be good if you want it Trifle.” She looked up at all of them like she’d proven a point, and then stuffed Travis-as-Rock and her half-finished flower necklace (for Travis, of course) back in her pocket. “You can discuss the terms of your dare over fried chicken,” she egged on as she stood up, wiping the grass off on her pants.
Everyone seemed to agree (or, at least, didn’t feel like arguing with her) and off they went, still discussing what sort of personal question they could con Karash into asking Professor Duskryn while he hmmed and hawed and groaned all the way to Carrie’s Chicken.