. Rift Point .

…A welcome perhaps short-lived.

“Absurd! Outrageous! Un-believable!”

The shrieks assault the professor and student one by one as a bony hand beats down on the desk in front of them. A wiry body, to which this and three other appendages are only loosely attached, flails about in a seemingly exaggerated show of fury. Fior sighs, knowing that for this particular individual, it is anything but.

Fior had expected swift judgement, and now judgement has come. Its form? A superior by the name of Cezar, the one who beckoned them both to the Chancellor’s office in a fit of rage. The window behind him batters his thin frame and spindly, white hair in a halo of noon as he stands above the two culprits, bigger than Kelsi in ego alone.

“I simply can-not believe you two! Caught in the act, once again!”

In-deed, we have been, once again! Fior repeats in their mind, mocking each of the man’s dramatic pauses. They hold themselves back from doing so out loud.

“I always knew this would happen! It’s just as I pre-dicted! If only you had listened to…”

Fior has long since lost track of how long the man has been at his routine. A minute? An hour? Even longer? His shrill voice has a stupefying quality which seems to rob the flow of time around it.

They glance over at the sheepish behemoth sitting next to them. The wooden seat holding her is comically too small, its flimsy shape buckling under weight it was never meant to bear. Meanwhile, Kelsi remains apparently oblivious to its struggle as she tucks her arms nervously between her tightly bound legs.

Fior chuckles. It seems even one as big as her can seek to hide herself in embarrassment. Though, with how frequent this scenario has become for her, they wonder how she hasn’t become at least somewhat used to it.

In any case, whether it be through indifference or insecurity, neither of them is listening to the derision aimed their way.

Fior looks up and notices Kelsi’s flushed, slightly purple face. With a toylike pointer finger, they poke at her side.

“-Eep!”

She flinches at the sudden cold sensation and looks down to meet her teacher’s gaze. The sight of their reassuring smile gradually erases the tension in her shoulders and legs, and she responds in kind with a smile of her own.

“Hey! I never said I was finished, you de-linquents!”

Cezar use of that word recovers the pair’s attention at once.

Fior’s smile fades as they look back to the gangly fool who dared to utter it, opening their mouth for the first time since entering the office. Their voice, while light, also has a cool, conniving bite. “Cezar, I don’t much care for what you call me. But I would prefer you not berate my own student.”

“Ah, you really do speak…you know, Fior, it’s not like you to be all high-and-mighty like that.”

Fior coughs to hide their own laughter. “I’m only…*hck!* keeping Kelsi’s wellbeing in mind.”

“Is that so? I have it here…” The man reaches into some messy drawer and pulls out a wad of paper, sliding an emaciated finger over each one on the desk as he begins to recite their infractions. “One…two…not three…not four…five! I see five separate counts of destruction of school property, all within the past year alone!”

Fior subdues a wince. It wasn’t actually that many, was it?

“Imagine that! One of Rift Point’s own esteemed professors, allowing a student to run wild – not only that, but en-couraging it! ‘Keeping her best interest in mind?’ Don’t make me laugh!”

“I’m a professor of Arcany. I was informed you all were already aware of how dangerous teaching it could be.”

“I assure you, professor, we are well aware. Quite well. Do you have any idea how much her recklessness – and by extension, yours – costs to fix? Not that I’d mind seeing that room of yours stay so torn up…” Cezar snickers at his own gibe as if it’s the funniest thing he’s heard in years before catching his breath. “Nevertheless! Why should your fellow students and staff tolerate it, hm?”

“If it’s a problem, I can easily repair any damages she incurs for free.”

“And what makes you think we have need of such…primitive prac-tices?”

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“Then I insist, take any necessary costs out of my salary. I won’t deny my wrongdoing in this matter, Cezar.”

“Tch.” The ghoul’s face contorts just slightly into an irked scowl. Clearly, compromise had not been the answer he was seeking. “It’s Mister Ogma,” he corrects, “and I’ll have none of your dis-respect! What makes you think that either of you can get away with ruining our grounds for the sixth time?”

“Again, I’m simply looking out for Kelsi. I can’t help that the room you’ve provided us with can’t withstand her growth.” Fior turns back to their student, whose blue jewel eyes glimmer with pride at the slightest praise. “Besides, Arcany is an official course here. Until that’s not the case, there’s not much I can do besides chip in myself.”

“That does not excuse you from terrorizing our body. And be-lieve me, I will take care of that ‘department’ of yours soon enough.”

“You personally?”

Cezar’s hands slam flat on the polished wood of the desk. If they impacted the surface any harder, they might have shattered into pieces.

“Enough of this!” he hollers, giving up the deliberate class in his cadence. “You think you’re invincible? You and that bumbling oaf and your dark arts? I don’t care who you are! I’ve got connections too! You think I’m just a pushover for you to make fun of? Well, laugh while you still can!”

Fior finally allows the immature smirk they’ve been resisting to fester on their face. They look back at Kelsi again with this mischievous expression, demonstrating to her the entertainment in provoking idiots. She tilts her heavy head, unable to discern what to do with the situation.

Aren’t they enjoying this a little too much?

Cezar misses this exchange entirely as he rambles on. “You make me sick, you know that? I know you know that. It must be all you think about. It has to be! You just revel in it, knowing how angry it makes me that you get away with everything! But I’ll stop you, cretin. Even if you happen to be that man’s caged bird! I’ll make him see reason, and he’ll toss you out like the filth you are! In fact, I’ll spare him the effort and do it for him right now…I swear it! I’ll never have to see your faces ever again! Gods, if only I weren’t the-“

“Vice Chancellor?”

A deep tone punctures the office, cutting off his sentence.

Even before seeing its speaker, everyone the room can feel its imposing aura.

It belongs to the armored, gruff-looking man now standing by the door. His shoulders are broad, his legs powerful, and his physique clearly well built – a trait flourished by his green and gold tunic, which neatly outlines the grooves in his abdominal musculature. A matching cape flows from the nape of his neck, proclaiming his status with silent grace. Above it sits a ginger-topped head decorated with a symmetrical face, one full of all the makings of a king: stunning amber eyes, a straight, triangular nose, and a stubbled, square jawline tying it all together.

At a glance, his figure is so impressive that one might not notice his right arm ends beneath the shoulder, capped off by a flat, silver stub.

“Ch-Chancellor Mailo!” Cezar stutters, the venom in his voice suddenly drained.

“What’s all this shouting? By the Altar, the whole school must have heard you by now.”

“I-I was simply putting these offenders in their place until you arrived. Because of their actions, we’re going to have to-“

“Yes, yes, Cezar. I felt it, too. And I can also see that we’ve got quite a long day ahead of us,” Mailo observes, gesturing around the disarray. “I appreciate you for your concern and for keeping these two company. I’ll take it from here.”

Hesitating only slightly, Cezar succumbs to the calm yet intense pressure and nods, knowing there’s nothing else he can do.

“I wish to speak with Fior alone. Will you escort Kelsi back to her barracks?”

Another nod, though he doesn’t spare the giant from his spiteful glare.

She ignores it and turns to look at Mailo, whose smile is always softer than she expects. After so much of Cezar’s scorn, the concept of understanding staff besides Fior is still relatively foreign to her.

She then turns back to her professor for validation, who remains as soothing a presence as ever.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

At this, she unfurls from the chair until fully upright. Her standing form is beyond spectacular – though Fior is by far the shortest of the three humans, all of them might as well be equally puny in her presence.

Her antlers knock against the chandelier, and the hollow, glassy rattling makes her flinch. Fior and Mailo snicker at this, although Cezar doesn’t seem to be as amused. He circles the desk and curtly signals for her to follow him. She reluctantly obeys.

“Oh, and Cezar?” He pauses and turns, anxiously awaiting the Chancellor’s next words. “Please don’t call me by my first name. We’ve talked about this. It’s impolite.”

“…Yes, sir.”

He nods one final time, but he can’t prevent his face from twisting into animalistic frustration.

His eyes are ready to pop from his skull.

His nose billows enraged fume.

His face is a burning, wrinkled inferno.

This bottomless contempt, the result of Fior’s perfect, infallible, irritating defense – Cezar prepares to launch it, to cut the line and let it fly in a mad volley.

Somehow, he contains it. He snaps around, forcefully taking Kelsi’s hand before stomping past Fior and Mailo. She really just follows him out of pure shock and confusion, but the image of the scrawny man dragging along someone more than twice his size is truly something to behold.

Kelsi can barely duck below the threshold before Cezar slams the door shut.

The soft jingle of the unlit chandelier wanes as the remaining tension steadily follows them out.