Chapter Text
Leona’s been avoiding Ruggie.
As much as the lazy lion can, anyway. It starts with him waking up early, leaving the dorm building and arriving at the Spelldrive stadium before Ruggie can arrive at the housewarden’s bedroom. It continues with assigning Ruggie to the opposing team during the morning’s practice. Seriously, Leona’s trying too hard to look detached.
Well, it’s hard for him to look anything when he’s standing on his broom midair, yawning. At least his inattentiveness lets Ruggie zip by, practicing a maneuver with his fellow second-year.
Even harder is it for Ruggie to keep his eyes off the second prince.
His hair is tied back a little looser, more strands out in the front than what’s fashionably acceptable. The hyena lets out an inner tch, partly as he recognizes how distracted he is today, and partly because he knows what’s going to happen to Leona without Ruggie’s careful plaits to pull the mane together. Still, it pays off in humor when he gets to see Leona flinch at the flurry of hair in his face after the rubber band snaps. Serves Leona right for disappearing on him first thing in the morning, the bastard.
It’s an issue when Ruggie misses the first few minutes of his first class to find and wrangle Leona into attending his own, just to hear that the beastman’s already there. And it continues to be an issue when Ruggie ducks out of class early to intercept Leona on his way to the botanical garden, just for no sign of him after the lunch period started.
Ruggie halfheartedly sighs, an ear twitching at the disappointing lack of Leona in the botanical garden. Today marks the third day of Leona’s new, odd pattern.
He’s leaving the garden when he catches a familiar scent on the air. Someone from Savanaclaw. A little sharper, and the initial solitariness of it makes Ruggie think Leona. Instead, he found a crowd of chittering freshmen in their lab coats, and among them, Jack.
“Huh? Oh, Ruggie-senpai.” The lab goggles slide down his face a little with the lack of human ears to keep the elastic band in place. He should remind Jack to stitch it together, make it a little tighter. “Shouldn’t you be with Leona-senpai?”
Ruggie sighs. “ ‘M’not his keeper,” he starts, “is what I’d say, but I am. Can’t find him anywhere.” His ear twitches in irritation. Leona’s no viper beastman and while Ruggie can typically find him even on a bad day, for the past three days he’s stayed safely out of his hiding spots.
“He was here before lunch started,” Jack offers. “A third and first year class had a mentorship lesson, ‘nd he was here. Dunno where he went after, if that helps.” Ruggie groans.
On campus, he was the one always moving. Anxious, swift hyena running through the halls, off to an errant odd job, or to Sam’s, or on some errand for Leona. The housewarden is the indolent, sleeping beast of Savanaclaw, found cutting class to take a nap. Leona’s sudden spike in activity sours the taste in Ruggie’s mouth, despite coming up with justifications for the prince’s non-grouchy behavior.
Could this mean Ruggie’s getting a raise? For doing so well, you know, when it comes to getting Leona out of bed. He’s even doing it on his own now!
…or does this mean Ruggie’ll be searching for a fresh source of income soon? Second prince of Sunset Savanna, finally using his lion’s paws to swat at a fragile hyena and all of the hope he had entrusted in him. Ruggie shakes his head.
“I’ll get goin’, then. Let me know if you see him again, alright? I’ve got somewhere to be.”
Jack waves a polite bye as Ruggie exits the botanical garden, leaving behind the excited group of first years.
Jack turns around, rejoins his classmates as they further inquire the housewarden of Savanaclaw about the rarer flora specimens that upperclassmen regularly use in their lessons, and sighs.
”With your performance today? Don’t even think about it, frosh.” Leona’s trying his best to dissuade the herd of herbivores, as he’d typically call them, trying to maintain a bit more courtesy after having relied on the freshmen as a cover for himself from Ruggie’s nose. Blunt newbies ask him question after question, Leona’s tail pin-straight in irritation at the barrage.
“Leona-senpai, don’t you have somewhere to be?” Jack asks, cutting through the swathe of voices. Leona perks up, eye-to-eye with the wolf beastman, and affirms him.
“Questions over, it’s lunchtime, I‘ve got somewhere to be. If you have any other Savanaclaw inquiries, ask Jack. Or find Ruggie Bucchi. ‘m out.”
Jack stiffens at the mention of Ruggie, the unprincely conduct of his housewarden nipping at him. To be avoiding Ruggie and still shirking his responsibilities in the favor of making the second-year fulfill them? The slacking is obvious to Jack, though Leona hasn’t been the biggest on subtlety lately.
As Leona stalks out of the greenhouse Jack’s ears twitch. Whatever is wrong with his housewarden and his second-in-command, it’s not his duty to get involved.
Trein’s out after lunch—something about Lucius needing to be immunized—and he’d only assigned textbook work for Ruggie’s class. It’s essentially a self-study period. Really, leaving a gaggle of NRC students to their own devices? Thus, he shoves it all into his pack, and runs off to Mirror Hall. There, he crosses the threshold of Octavinelle’s mirror portal, and arrives early for his shift.
“Remora-chan’s here~” Floyd’s singsong drawl greets Ruggie as he enters Mostro Lounge. No sign of Azul or Jade, so it’s safe for Ruggie to assume that he’d cut class, same as the hyena. It was getting boring, the merman likely would have said.
“I’ll be able to pick up an extra shift,” Ruggie said, already beelining for the back to grab an apron. “Leona-san’s got no duties for me lately, so I can do doubles tonight. Kitchen’s first.”
“Eeeh? Sea lion-senpai isn’t running you ragged?”
Floyd bends at the waist to lean his head on the cubicle, freakishly tall height keeping him relatively level with Ruggie’s chest as the shorter is at the moment, stooped over at the cubbies.
“Nah. Been avoidant lately, too. But I’m not getting paid to be his personal counselor. Leona’s getting up and going to class on his own, which leaves me with more time to work than usual,” Ruggie said, tying his apron back. “Still paying me the same, so having the extra time earns me extra thaumarks.”
Floyd hums. “Maybe he’s getting ready to fire you. Like those businesses that stop giving employees shifts so that they’ll quit on their own, hee hee hee.”
Ruggie stalls his movements. Leona wouldn’t just, let go of him like this. Not after Leona overblotted, despite the proof of his disdain scarring Ruggie’s arm. Despite never actually talking about what had happened after that day.
Using his own signature spell right back at him after the overblot, Ruggie’d forced a smile onto Leona’s face, and that had been that.
Though rare, Ruggie slipped into a quiet state of contemplation.
Noticing the change in demeanor he’d inflicted, Floyd goes out to the front of the house, disgruntled expression on his face. Remora-chan’s usually fun to play with, used to ribbing and jabs, but he’d seen the way Ruggie tensed up. His intuition’s telling him that the hyena actually becoming antsy won’t lead anywhere—man, he’s bored. Oh, well, he can flit around on his own for now…~ He’ll just wait for Jade and Azul to finish class and head to Mostro Lounge.
Stars wink down upon Savanaclaw’s dorm dimension as Ruggie exits the portal. It’s nearly curfew—but he hasn’t needed to worry about that for the previous two days, and he was willing to take a bet for the third day in a row. He fans himself a bit, the clinging heat of Octavinelle’s dark dorm uniform not fully abated after his second shift.
He passes by Jack in the common room, currently engaged in an arm wrestling battle. His ear flicks before the rest of his body startles to attention. “Ruggie-senpai!”
Ah, Ruggie should’ve known. He’s never had the good luck in life, after all.
Jack quickly slams his opponent’s arm onto the table, leaving behind the whimpering caracal beastman as he bounded over to Ruggie.
“Leona-senpai was lookin’ for you. Said you weren’t answering your phone. Seemed like he wanted to talk about something.” Jack stands, a bit awkwardly after delivering the news. Ruggie sizes him up.
Jack looked nervous, which is unusual. His typical strait-laced, I’m a lone wolf, so don’t involve me in your business attitude is overshadowed by his slight hunch—just what is it that he’s worried about? Ruggie gives Jack a nod, and the freshman jogs back to the caracal beastman to continue talking about whatever claim they had just struck. Still, he can’t allow him to be distracted by whatever foolery his underclassmen engaged in when he’d gotten an order from Leona.
Ruggie looks up from the first floor, past the waterfall, up and up until he sees the singular room on the top floor; the housewarden’s dorm room. In the shadows, he swears he sees a tail swish near the roped railing.
Well, he thinks, long-sufferingly, time to talk to his boss.