I was sitting in the classroom, just after the bell signalling the lunch break rang and Mrs Applebottom left the classroom. Tradition dictated that this should've been the point where I started waxing lyrical about the comforting mundanity of everyday school life and how it provided a sense of solid grounding in our hectic lives that never, ever changed. Except that it kind of did.
"You've got such a nice tan!"
"Thanks, I guess…" Judy responded a touch awkwardly, but it didn't seem to bother the classmates clustered around her desk.
"Hey, hey? Did you really go to a diterranean island for vacation?" One of the girls, a short one with simple pigtails leaned over with her hands planted on the desk, her eyes practically shining with excitent. "Did you?"
"That's… technically correct," my dear assistant confird in an unusually mousy voice, and the group erupted with 'Oooh!'-s and 'Aaah!'-s.
"Lucky! I wanna have a rich girlfriend too!" one of the guys (I think his na was Steve) groused, much to the amusent and agreent of the rest of the group.
"I'm sooo jelly!" a girl with long, dark green hair whined, and one of her friends patted her on the back to reassure her.
"Boyfriend," Judy belatedly corrected the previous guy, and another one (I think he was also Steve) cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"But aren't you going out with Eleanor?"
"No, we're both going out with Leonard," she corrected this one too, only for a third guy (I was fairly sure he wasn't Steve, but don't quote on that) to let out a confused noise.
"Eeeh? But if you're all together, then doesn't that an she's also your girlfriend?"
"That's not how Type 8 Triang Relationships work," Judy stated flatly, and I nearly laughed out loud, not expecting that old term to unexpectedly pop up here of all places.
All that aside, it was monts like this that really drove ho the fact that the rate at which placeholders developed had been steadily accelerating over ti, and by this point it felt subtly wrong to refer to them with that term anymore. They had their own personalities, interests, and relationships now, and could no longer be called entirely two-dinsional extras populating the background of our lives. I wasn't too surprised though, as once we discovered the underlying chanics, their steady developnt was inevitable and—
"Ergency eting!" a familiar voice rang out from the corner of the classroom, drawing my attention to it and stopping in my tracks just as I was about to get up from my seat. "I have confirmation! Repeat, I have confirmation!"
"Impossible!" Mr Bedhair exclaid while holding his spiky-haired comrade by the collar and dramatically shaking him. "You lie!"
"I'm sorry comrade, but our source is beyond question," Mr Bowl Cut stated with a heavy voice and placed a hand on Mr Spiky's shoulder. "We have asked Goddess Angeline herself, and she confird the rumors."
"No! Don't say it!" the spiky-haired boy finally let go of his bed-haired fellow and his face twisted in an anguished grimace, as if his whole world was collapsing.
"It's true," the fourth amigo, Mr Crew Cut, spoke with a heavy voice and placed his hand on the guy's other shoulder.
"Our Goddess, Ms Yamako…" Mr Bowl Cut swallowed hard, as if barely able to contain his grief, but then he steeled his expression. "She's getting married."
"Nooo!" With an anguished cry, Mr Spiky fell to his knees and threw his hands into the air. "It's unfair! It should've been ! It should've been ee!"
…
Okay, on second thought, maybe placeholder character developnt was quite evitable after all. Or at the very least, so people were wholly immune to it. Go figure.
"Where should we have lunch today?"
My attention was drawn away from the four amigos' antics by a, in retrospect rather obvious, question from my lovely princess, stopping in my tracks for the second ti. She was already holding one of her multi-layered, homade lunch boxes, no doubt lovingly handcrafted by her (and maybe linda).
"The weather's great, and we have the cherry blossoms for scenery, so let's eat outside."
"My thoughts exactly!"
She bead at and was waiting for to lead the way, but I had to disappoint her.
"I have to make the rounds first, so you go pick a nice spot, and I'll catch up with you afterwards. First thing first thought…"
I pointedly glanced at Judy's desk at the front.
"No. A threeso and a triang relationship are not the sa."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. I'm in one."
"A threeso?"
"Yes. No. Sotis. It's two different things, okay?"
Her usually deadpan voice was tinted with just a hint of exasperation, but since it was Judy we were talking about, that was the equivalent of being on the verge of blowing a fuse, so I inclined my head towards her.
"Please rescue her at your earliest convenience."
"On it!" Elly declared and strode over, lunch boxes in hand.
With that situation sorted, I finally managed to be on my way as well (the third ti's the charm), and I left the classroom while staunchly ignoring the bawling creeps huddled together in the corner of the classroom. The lunch breaks of Blue Cherry High were long, but if I wanted to visit everyone on my list and still have a leisurely al with my girlfriends, I needed to pick up the pace.
My first target was the nurse's office on the ground floor, and after skipping down the stairs and navigating the flow of students in the hallways, I soon stood in front of the familiar door. There was no need to have any reservations, so I walked in without knocking, and Jaakobah imdiately turned in his office chair to face . He naturally resud his cover work as the school nurse with the end of spring break, and the white coat on his back and the stray stethoscope around his neck were starting to feel as normal as his Celestial hoplite outfit.
What wasn't normal were the other occupants of the office.
"Lord Polemos!"
"W-We greet the Second True Archon!"
As soon as they noticed , a pair of familiar faces scampered over to my side, looking unexpectedly excited to see . Pais and Kóre, my hastily promoted Chief Reminders, were dressed in old-tiy light blue nurse outfits, complete with those folded vintage caps on top of their little heads.
I would've said I was surprised by their presence, but I would've been lying. I've already seen them through Far Sight, and they were, in fact, the reason why I decided to pay a visit to Jaakobah.
Speaking of him, my Praetorian Prefect got up from his seat and gave a solemn salute with a plain "Lord Archon?" in tow. It was easy to see that he didn't expect that I would be visiting out of the blue, and while he wasn't exactly annoyed by my presence, his tone said he wanted to hear why I dropped by all the sa.
"At ease, all of you," I started, followed by a long beat and a pointed glance at the kids. "I did not expect to see the two of you so soon."
The children averted their gazes and shuffled their feet as if I just caught them with their collective hands in the proverbial cookie jar. Surprisingly, Jaakobah quickly ca to their rescue.
"As I've ntioned during our last eting in Elysium, I took it upon myself to oversee your Chief Reminders' education."
"I get that part, but why are they here? In the school?"
"I work here," he answered flatly, as if I just asked sothing silly.
"No, I an, couldn't you leave them with soone else while you're here? Like the rest of the Praetorian Guards."
Unexpectedly enough, it was Kóre who responded to that question.
"Mister Jaakobah said it would be better for us to remain close to him and learn by his example."
Seeing that I only raised a curious brow at her made the boy also gather his courage, and in a mousy voice he added, "A-Also, he says they're a bad influence, so…"
I could see storm clouds gathering over Jaakobah's brow, so I waved for the kids to stay quiet and nudged the conversation along.
"Fine, fine. So you're teaching them even while you're on the job?"
"Yes. That is the gist of it."
"Does Lord Grandpa know that they're here with you?" He gave an uncomprehending look, so I anded, "The principal, I an."
"Yes, I've already cleared them with him," Jaakobah nodded firmly, and I had nothing else to say. Well, except maybe one thing.
"… Why nurse costus thought?"
"They are for blending into the environnt," the phlegmatic Celestial stated, making raise a brow at that.
Though again, this was the man whose concept of 'low-key disguise' was a brown trench coat over a cocktail suit and a fedora that scread 'I'm an agent from a paperback spy-thriller', so I probably shouldn't have been so surprised.
While I was considering that, I might've been staring at Pais in particular, because Jaakobah soon added, "They are also technically unisex."
"That… wasn't a question, but if you say so, then fine." I paused and focused on the kids again. "So? What are you learning?"
"Anatomy!" Kóre exclaid as if waiting to show off. "I already morized all the major bones of the body!"
"Good job?" I blurted out, and the boy once again felt encouraged by my reaction and joined in.
"We… are also learning healing arias. I-I'm not that good at them yet, but I promise I'll do better."
"Don't stress too much over it," I said, and my hand automatically landed on his head and tousled his hair. "Jaakobah probably has high standards, but you're still kids, so don't overwork yourselves."
"A-As you command!" the boy exclaid, sounding unusually happy.
In the anti, the man by the chair pointedly cleared his throat, so I turned my attention back to him.
"Do you have anything else to report?"
"As a matter of fact, there is a subject I wish to discuss with the Lord Archon."
"I'm listening."
"During my visit at the orphanage, when I adopted these two, I—"
"Hold it!" I cut him off with a palm raised. "You adopted them?"
"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Jaakobah asked back, and for a second, I didn't know how to respond.
"No. It was just… unexpected. Please, continue."
He nodded and proceeded like my interruption never happened.
"The orphanage is primarily dedicated to the children of agents and officials who perished in the line of duty, but they provide little guidance to them beyond ensuring they are well fed and they read their scriptures. Seeing such waste of potential, I was considering the establishnt of a youth branch of the Praetorian Guards, and I wished to ask for your approval."
"A youth group?" I echoed him, but he remained stoic and only stared at dispassionately. "It sounds a little vague. Give a proper proposal in writing, and I'll give it fair consideration."
"As you command."
He gave a quick salute, and the kids clumsily mimicked him.
"Is there anything else to report?"
"Nothing urgent."
I nodded and reached for the doorknob.
"In that case, keep up the good work."
"Yes, Lord Archon!"/"We will! We will!" the children exclaid, while Jaakobah only gave a solemn nod.
With my curiosity about the presence of the kids sated, it was ti to head to the next location, which was the faculty office. It was also on the ground floor, though at the other end of the building, and it didn't take long to get there. This ti, I did knock first, and after getting an unenthusiastic response from the other side, I walked in.
Blue Cherry High's faculty office was pretty typical, all things considered. A bunch of large desks arranged in a U-shape, a couple of PCs with old-school CRT monitors flanked by piles and piles of books and paperwork, and a large photo-copier printer in the corner, along with a few potted plants. The only people inside were Mrs Applebottom and Lord Barnabas, though the latter was currently hidden behind a whole mountain of test papers. From the looks of it, they were already preparing for the end-of-the-year exams coming up.
My destination wasn't with either of them, and I headed to the counsellor's office in the back instead. It was called that, but in reality it was just Lord Ambrose's little hidey-hole where he spent most of the day while pretending to do his undercover job as a Board of Education consultant. I walked over and lightly knocked on the door, and a few seconds later it opened, revealing the bearded arch-mage on the other side.
"Hello. I've heard—"
Before I could finish the sentence, he grabbed by the shoulder and pulled in before slamming the door shut behind us.
"Finally! I've been waiting for you since morning!" he declared loudly and crossed his arms with a huff.
"Pascal didn't say it was urgent," I held while unsubtly scanning the ssy room, full of barely disguised magitech equipnt, scrawled research notes, and a whole bunch of empty pizza boxes.
…
Why did I suddenly have a feeling that Ambrose and Fred might get along surprisingly well?
"Never mind," I muttered with a shake of my head and faced the robed man. "So? Do you need my help with sothing?"
"Potentially!" He declared loudly, with no indoor voice at all, and suddenly I also had a feeling he might be birds of a feather with Dad-in-law too. Anyhow, he raised a finger and added, "Just a mont!"
He turned around and started chanting so faux-Latin words while making vague gestures towards the door and the only window of the room. The spell soon took effect and ford a thin bubble that expanded and covered the entire room in a transparent, colourless film. Then, for good asure, he also walked over to said window and closed the blackout curtains.
"Why the secrecy?"
My question made him let out a soft huff and he folded his arms again.
"Just in case the others tried to listen in," he responded openly and looked in the eye. "We need to talk about Lord Marzanna."
It took a second to recognize that na, mainly because I'd only ever heard it in passing.
"The arch-mage with the last Grimoire Key?"
"Yes, her!" Ambrose growled. "Listen, the rest are trying to keep this secret, because they don't want a 'potential diplomatic incident' just as we're finally starting to make peace with the Celestials, but she's almost certainly related to the assassination plot against the Deus girl."
"… Okay, so if the Assembly wants to keep this under wraps, then why are you telling this?"
"Because that infuriating bint is stonewalling all our attempts to get the third grimoire key from her!" he burst out, throwing his hands in the air in the process. "She put the whole Assembly into a gridlock, and she even has the gall to say that we're compromised because we're working with you! We're this close!" He extended two fingers, as if trying to pinch the air between us. "This close to unlocking the Grimoire! We're on the precipice of history! Just trying to imagine all the wondrous knowledge in there! The knowledge that will no doubt finally make the Mysticism Schools realize their ways are misguided, and yet we can't take that last crucial step because that fool is being obstinate!"
"So she doesn't like Celestials," I whispered, but because we were isolated from the outside world by his spell, Ambrose easily overheard .
"She sure doesn't. She's probably jealous that you have better healers or sothing."
"Sounds as reasonable as anything." I shrugged and voiced the pivotal question. "So? What exactly do you expect to do? Send more official requests to Glasgow? If the Assembly is already in a bureaucratic deadlock, it won't do much good."
"Don't be daft, Leonard!" the arch-mage scoffed and flashed a grin. "I'm saying that we should go to Lord Marzanna's place, pick up her Key, and bring it to Amadeus's kid. Once she has all three, it's going to be a done deal, so the rest of those old bastards will just have to accept that it was done."
It took a while to fully digest what he just proposed.
"Are you telling to go all the way to Ottawa and steal their Grimoire Key?"
"No, no. It will be for safekeeping. The sa way you kept mine and Amadeus's Keys out of Bel's reach," he said, winking, but I couldn't help but stare flatly at him in return.
"I can't do that," I stated categorically, channelling my inner Judy, much to the bearded arch-mage's outrage.
"What? Why?"
Well, primarily because I had no marks for Phasing in freaking Ottawa, but I couldn't say that out loud, so I focused on the other obstacles.
"I'm currently representing both the Draconic Federation and the Elysium. Even if I could just gallivant over to another continent and nab the last Grimoire Key like that, it would beco an international scandal at best, or a complete diplomatic ltdown at worst."
"In the short term, yes, but once the Grimoire is open, nobody will care!" Ambrose argued back, but I was firm on this one.
"We already have a bit of a situation brewing with the Abyssals and Bel. I can't afford to leave the island right now."
Lord Ambrose glared at , but then he closed his eyes, raised his hands, and massaged both of his temples at the sa ti. After a few short seconds he exhaled a sharp breath and pointed at .
"Okay then, change of plans. How about this: Since you can't leave Critias for long, I'll do it. I'll go to Ottawa, and one way or another, I'll get Lord Marzanna to hand over her Key. One way or another."
"You're repeating yourself. Also, you could do that without ," I pointed out, but he scoffed at again.
"No, I need you to back up. They aren't letting do it, so if they raise a fuss, tell Amadeus and Gulliver that we have a plan and you've got my back, okay?"
"I… guess I could do that much…" I agreed tentatively, thinking that this would be the point where he explained what that plan was, but Lord Ambrose just rubbed his palms with a wolfish grin instead.
"All right! This works too!" Without further ado, he turned on his heels and muttered a few muffled words that made the isolation spell covering the room pop like a bubble, and then he grabbed hold of the doorknob and only turned back long enough to say, "Don't forget: If Gulliver asks, everything is under control, and you've got my back. Got it?"
He didn't wait for my response. A mont later he was gone, and I could even hear him storming out of the faculty office in turn. As for , I had a feeling that this was going to lead to so trouble down the road, but if Ambrose managed to get the last Key, this Lord Marzanna, or both onto the island, I felt like I could work with that. Not to ntion, future-'s notes did ntion resolving the whole Grimoire situation before the Abyss plot, so if the boisterous arch-mage wanted to kickstart it for , I figured I might as well let him.
With all of that concluded, I took out my phone and checked the ti, accentuated by a click of my tongue.
"Well, crap. I guess the third stop has to wait until after school hours," I whispered as I put away the device and also left the faculty office.
Call shallow, but when it ca to priorities, a picnic lunch under the cherry blossoms with my girlfriends would naturally take the top spot. The clearly suspicious woman in a black catsuit, perched on a nearby rooftop and observing the campus with a pair of comically large binoculars, could wait.
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