'So your big plan didn't work?'

Silhouette outlined by deep ocean song, Ttala Ezenha projects his voice into the detention room from beyond the corridor and fills it with his ire. He's Wrackdons only Dreacon: a traditional Cryotian warrior who hunts and fends off dragons to protect people in the dead of night, only getting to rest when everybody else starts their day...and now he's been dragged to his son's school to pick him up at noon. Needless to say, he's pissed.

Mmanuell raises a finger to counter-point, '...Yeah. We got caught halfway through. But we still techn-'

'Caught how?'

Ttala's patience is already running thin enough to slice him in half, so maybe Mmanuell shouldn't directly mention how bad he fucked up. Mmanuell clasps his hands together and shuffles out of his dad's line of sight, but the fist of Water Magic that busted the door open rotated to face him as he did so. A watery finger is pointed at Mmanuell, then back to where he was standing. Mmanuell rolls his eyes in exasperation as he drags his feet back into Ttala's view. 'We- I... "miscalculated" how much time an..."improvised diversion" would afford me.'

If Ttala could fit through the detention room door, he'd walk right over there and pinch Mmanuell's ear. A disappointed huff of air will have to do. As he cuts through the sugary coating of his son's words, '...so you froze up like a deer in headlights after the operation deviated even a little bit from what you planned. As usual.'

"As usual", he says. This has happened like three times, ever!

Mmanuell holds his hands out and gestures in confusion, 'No I didn't thank you, Dad! So what was I meant to do, give up halfway through?!'

'Plan better in the future. You know you're capable of it.'

'Oh well kick me, why don't you?'

'I will if you don't have anything to show for your efforts today. To justify why I've been woken up out of my sleep?'

'I do, actually. I was going to get to that if you let me finish talking,' Mmanuell snarkily retorts, taking after the same testy attitude his dad has, as he drags his Crystal box into his father's view. He flicks open the lustrous, weightless lid and tilts the entire box towards the corridor so that Ttala can see the decorated black marble of the smaller, heavier chest contained inside. 'We got caught during the very last part of the plan. Miss and Wyverius think that they stopped me from stealing individual toys. While me and Kkele were being taken out of the classroom, Ssamuell swooped in and cleaned up. Swapped out the entire thing for an identical replica filled with rocks. Have a look, Father.' Mmanuell reaches around and heaves open the stone lid of the Confiscation Chest, revealing the literal heap of toys, gadgets, and gizmos that once belonged to the members of his class. 'I have every single item that's ever been taken from anybody at school in the past 6 years. This enough justification?'

Magic doesn't respond to emotions. The user has to manually do things like change its colour or shape, so you know that when Ttala's Stream-Fist makes a thumbs up and his Water Magic begins flashing green it means you've won his approval. 'Haha! That's my boy, making the most out of even a blatant failure!' Ttala laughs a hearty laugh and applauds Mmanuell, the strength behind which was strong enough to send vibrations through Mmanuell's chest as he spoke. 'Ok, it's good enough. I'm going home.' Ttala turns and begins to walk away, his hulking silhouette fading into the darkness...but, in a mercurial change of attitude, he stops for a moment and his Magic returns to its usual blinding ultramarine.

'But I don't want to be woken up again. You kids hear me?'

'Of course not, dad.' Mmanuell casually responds; Kkele and Ssamuell rarely see Ttala on account of his night shifts and he scares the shit out of them when they do so they haven't said a word since he showed up, but they manage to squeak out a "Hello, Mr Ezenha. Yes sir." before the sleepy Dreacon gets any more irritated.

Which is a good idea. Mmanuell and his mum are the only people who can talk back to Ttala when he's in a grumpy mood like this, but if anyone else were to test his patience today...uh oh.

'-Hey Dad, one thing really quickly?'

'...?'

'Kkele got in way more trouble than me today, so you might want to deal with "that" before you go back to bed...also can you help me apologise so she's still allowed to play with me pleaseeeee?'

Ttala sighs and mumbles something under his breath. '...Fine. Come on you three, I'll take your bags. You're going to have to carry that Crystal on your own Mmanuell.' The Dreacon splits his stream-fist into several smaller ones and uses them to put the room back in order and carry the bags of Mmanuell's friends as he makes his way outside, the light of the abyss retreating with him and returning the detention room to its original washed-out yellow hue. Mmanuell gives his two friends a reassuring thumbs up, and they head outside.

...

Crowds of parents gathering their kids up in the school's front yard blocked out Mmanuell's view of the pristine snow carpeting the ground, which would have blinded him after spending so long inside a room without windows. Apparently, Miss Komodia fainted not long after she dealt with Mmanuell and Kkele so the rest of the school day was called off (she's like, the only decent teacher here), so simply daring to show his face after ruining the last day of school draws the attention of every adult in the playground, garnering stares and glares of disdain. "Oh, there goes Mmanuell the troublemaker, disrupting another day of important learning for our kids because they're too stupid to learn anything without help.", is what Mmanuell likes to think they're saying in their heads and he skirts in front of his friends and father, marching in front of his posse and purposefully kicking snow towards a kid who was standing too close to him. They love me. Mmanuell starts walking backwards and gives his audience the most shit-eating grin he can pull and waves, thanking them for bearing witness to yet another grand performance. 'No, no, thank you! Same place, same time, two months from now! '

Mmanuell knew he was stretching it, but he just has to instigate. Ttala blows a bullet of Wind Magic at Mmanuell's forehead and scowls at him. 'Mmanuell, don't. You forget how closely knit our community is. It's me and your mum who have to go around apologising for your behaviour more times than not.'

...And there goes Mmanuell's good mood. He knows his parents know best but Mmanuell stands above all others, and his parents above him still...yet they still feel the need to do such undignified things as actually apologise to other people. Wrackdon is a small town- only about a hundred or so people; everyone knows everyone, so when Mmanuell pulls his stunts it's not uncommon for people to start banging down his front door and demanding apologies from him. Mmanuell is content to let them pound away until the sun goes down, yet his parents insist that they cover for him. It's a dilemma, isn't it? Do as you please- as is your right, but at the cost of your parent's pride.

Mmanuell doesn't understand why they do this. They were the ones who taught Mmanuell to never be sorry for anything he does. But if that means they have to be sorry in his stead...

'Nobody said you have to do that...'

...

After a few dozen minutes of walking through the Cryotian landscape of clear skies and perpetual snowfall, Mmanuell&Co. reach the cul-de-sac of identical two-floor houses where he, Kkele, and Ssamuell all live. These three are the only kids their age on this road so they've all been friends since birth, and their parents all try to get along with each other as well. Key word being "try": Kkele's mother absolutely hates Mmanuell because she thinks he's a "negative influence" on her precious little girl. Pfft, if it wasn't for Mmanuell, Kkele would have no friends and spend all her time indoors collecting bones and feathers...all of those things still apply, but she gets out of the house more often thanks to him.

You can see the footsteps pressed into the ground during the morning school rush being slowly overwritten by fresh snowfall as everybody makes their way towards the two houses on the furthest edge of the roundabout: those are Kkele and Ssamuell's. Kkele nervously shuffles behind Ttala, taking refuge in the clearing in the snow he makes as the other children also follow behind him. Mmanuell and Ssamuell aren't nearly as tense as their bespectacled compadre, instead more preoccupied with how large a snowball they can make with the debris Ttala kicks up in his wake. It must be some sort of Dreacon technique he hasn't taught Mmanuell yet, but his father doesn't make a damn sound when walking through snow, all anybody can hear is Mmanuell's own loud, obnoxious trudging and the sound of snow being crunched at an increasingly fast pace-

Wait, what?

Mmanuell stops moving and looks over his shoulder to scan his surroundings: his dad is walking ahead in noble silence befitting of a Dreacon, Kkele is, again, walking behind him barely making a sound as she treads disturbed snow, and Ssamuell hasn't touched the ground since they left school. There still isn't anybody else outside besides them, so maybe it was just his imagination. Mmanuell turns back around and almost immediately spots fresh, owner-less footprints heading in his direction which definitely weren't there two seconds ago, but before he can even stop to guess what's going on-

'BOO!'

A woman draped in murky, chromatic Steam Magic materialises out of thin air and grabs Ssamuell's by the shoulders, giving him a good shake and scaring the living daylights out of him (and Mmanuell). The two boys are both sent shooting into the air out of fear- literally in Ssamuell's case. Too spooked to maintain proper control over his magic, Sam's cloud of steam dissipates mid-air and leaves him hurtling towards the snow, but the woman catches him with a typhoon of liquid steam and rebounds him into her arms, laughing gleefully as she squeezes Ssamuell like a five-year-old.

Oh for the love of- it was just Aunty Nneena. The steam magic concealing the trickster dissipates, revealing a short middle-aged woman in her hundred-and-twenties with dark skin covered in, shoulder-length dreads, and a jovial smile. She chuckles and rubs the two young boys' heads, much to their embarrassment.

'Mum..! That wasn't funny!' Sam pushes his mother off of him and takes her tornado for himself to sit upon, coughing from the adrenaline rush and cold air biting the back of his throat.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

'Haha! Got you both good didn't I? Oh, but it looks like Kkele was too upset to get scared, though. Hmm, let me guess, one of Mmanuell's grand pranks went up in flames and the school day was cut short. Again. Am I right Ttala?'

Also unfazed by this very regular occurrence, Ttala nods and smiles. 'Yep. Allergic to proper planning, he is. Goats will rain from the sky before this boy makes a complex strategy.'

Aunty Nneena still has the same dry humour as the rest of the grown-ups in town despite being by far the most fun and chilled-out one. Her hair is flung in the air as she throws her head back in laughter, smiling at Mmanuell and telling him not to take it all too seriously: 'Don't worry sonny, it's just an opportunity to do it twice as good next time! Oh and Kkele, don't be too upset, your mum won't be angry forever. It's only because she cares about you, darling.' Kkele looks up at Aunty Nneena and gives her a weak smile and a half-hearted 'y-yeah...' before going back to twiddling her thumbs and looking all sheepish.

'Ah, speaking of school, Teegan gave me a copy of this term's syllabus. You, Essam, have two days' worth of work to catch up on and there'll be no breaks until you finish it all!'

'B-, but mum-'

'No "buts" mister, you don't get to skip out on school to plan your little schemes for free! Come on, we're starting now!'

Nneena claps her hands twice and in an instant, she and her son go completely invisible as if they weren't just standing right in front of Mmanuell. It's freaky, even if you know it's just extremely well-textured Steam Magic. Still fancying herself a world-class comedian, Nneena does an impression of a ghost to try and cheer Kkele up, but can't keep it up for more than a few seconds before making herself laugh too much. 'OoOoooOo I'm a ghoOOst- pff, Haha- Ah, I'm kidding! Have a good day you guys! Get some sleep Ttala! Good luck Kkele!' With a snap of her fingers, the camouflage surrounding her family is undone, reappearing and waving goodbye before walking/floating towards their front door. Fool-proof invisibility, sneaking up on people, and thinking they're funny clearly runs in the family. Mmanuell rolls his eyes, that's one parent out of the way. Time for the second one, and the hardest to deal with. Kkele's mother: Aunty Sharla.

She's been staring at him from her kitchen window since they arrived home.

The lights in her house aren't on so the only thing Mmaunell can see of her is the snow reflecting in her glaring eyes. Mmanuell spotted her almost immediately after arriving home, since she always stands watch in that exact same spot whenever Kkele goes out to play with him and Ssamuell, but was ignoring her in hopes she'd just, like...go away? Or wait in her living room until they knocked on the door or something. But no, not Aunty Sharla. Eagle eyes from the shadows the entire time.

Nobody has the energy or guts to try and have a two-sided conversation with someone so naturally argumentative so Ttala commands his son to just get on with it, but before they could even approach the doorbell, Sharla's ominous silhouette lunged to the front door and jutted it open with enough suppressed anger to make a bag of rats seem friendly. Mrs Monntiba has always been an extremely strict, no-nonsense woman and is probably the adult who puts up with Mmanuell's nonsense the least, but from what he can discern her disdain against him actually seems to be rooted in a much older-standing issue between her and Mmanuell's parents. But HEY that's none of Mmanuell's business he's not going to pry he doesn't care nope he's staying out of it no thank you.

Sharp, yellow eyes leer at Ttala through a curtain of wispy black hair. Sharla's un-entertained scowl darts between him, Mmanuell, and Kkele, grasping the situation as fast as Mmanuell's other aunt did. 'So what, your sons gone and ruined another school day? Why's my daughter here as well?', Sharla scratches her cheek and snaps at Mmanuell's father who stonily replies back without making eye contact.

'Morning Sharla. Let Mmanuell explain himself.'

What? Come on, man... Mmanuell looks at his father with pleading eyes, silently begging him to do the talking instead. Ttala glances back at him and nods towards Aunty Sharla.

'...Say what happened, apologise, and don't talk back. Go on.'

Thank you, Father. What do I even say? All roads lead to getting cussed out! Just think of anything, Mmanuell! Uhhhh-

'Ah...well, we kinda...both, got suspended. Bleh (｡>‿‿<｡ )' Mmanuell feigns innocence by playfully putting his hands on his head and sticking out his tongue as a kind of...uncharacteristic defence mechanism?? Like how squids shoot ink or how lizards shed their tails, except there is no escaping the situation that he just made stickier.

'...Mmanuell what the fuck is wrong with you?!' Kkele mouths from behind him, shocked at his stupidity. Ttala turned away and killed all the muscles in his face to stop himself from laughing.

'Are you trying to- S-, SUSPENDED?! And what, you think that's funny, Mmanuell?!' Sharla hisses from behind her front door, nails digging into the wood.

'...no?' I mean, in a cosmic sort of way, kind of. In a few years everyone will forget this ever happened or barely remember it, so why learn any long-term lessons? But then again that logic is hard to apply here: saying that you aren't taking something as seriously as Sharla Monntiba is a very low bar to pass and she holds grudges for a long time (she also looks like one).

'How many times is this going to happen, Ttala?! Dreacon or not, control your damn child before he turns mine into a fool like him!'

'Excuse me?' Ttala tilts his head and raises an eyebrow in perplexion.

'Ugh, what I mean is...', Sharla comes out from behind her front door and pushes her hair back behind her ears revealing her entire face which, like her daughter, is adorned with Gates: thin, black, tear-stain-shaped strips that run down from her eyes and spiral around her neck forming a natural, grudge-filled choker tattoo. She kneels down to Mmanuell's level and stares him dead in the eyes with a reluctant simper. 'Mmanuell. Isn't it about time you...outgrew these childish games? You're smart, why don't you do something a little more grown up with your time? Your Ascentday should be coming up any time soon and we all know your dad isn't going to go easy on you at all. You should be practising for that, instead of disrupting my daughter's education. But at the very least it was the last day of school, so there's no more education to disrupt. You're lucky.' Sharla wistfully sucks her teeth and stands back up, digging into Mmanuell's hair and scratching his head, 'You understand?'

Hate it when people tell me to do things I was going to do anyway. Mmanuell looks away from his aunty and kisses his teeth. 'Yeah...'

Ttala picked up on Mmanuell's frustration and decided to momentarily forgo whatever he has against Sharla, nodding to her that his son gets the message.

'Kkele, let's come inside now.' Sharla turns the light on in their front hallways and peers around Ttala's leg; Kkele hasn't said a word this entire time for fear of being shouted at, but Mmanuell was the one who took the brunt of it so Kkele should be okay now if she lies about how badly she got in trouble. Little Miss Monntiba shuffles inside and waves goodbye to Mmanuell, who waves back. Both parents force a smile at each other and the Ezenhas finally head to their own house, four doors down to the right.

Ttala clearly just wants to get back to bed, evident by his placing of the house keys in Mmanuell hoplite afro and flying straight inside through his parent's bedroom window without a word.

Cool.

The cold, jangly steel sucks even more warmth from his hands than standing in the biting cold already had, but Mmanuell manages to fish the keys out of his hair. Ah, nice and warm! A wave of gentle heat washes over Mmanuell as he opens his front door, warding away the spring frost as he lugs his Crystal Chest into the corridor.

He peeks his head through the kitchen door and waves at his mother, who was halfway through spending her lunch break making sandwiches for when Mmanuell was supposed to arrive home. 'Hi, mum!'

Teegan is bewildered to see Mmanuell back at noon, but this exact situation has happened more than enough times for that confusion to only last a mere moment. 'So that's why your dad wasn't here when I got back. How did it go?'

'He half-failed!' Ttala yells from his bedroom upstairs.

'Oh?' Now there's something Teegan hasn't heard in a while.

'He had to "improvise"!'

Her smile and optimism: Gone. Mmanuell's mother had the same reaction to that word as his dad and turns to the boy with a dispirited look on her face. 'Care to explain, Mmanuell?'

Mmanuell recounts the day's events to his mum, and she's not happy.

'What kind of stupid mistake was that, child? You really should have expected Yyna to move the second key after she caught you stealing it. How many times have we told you to keep yourself out of situations where you have to think on the spot? But, be proud that you still managed to get out on top though, yeah?'

'Only thing he needs now is his Gates, eh Teegan?' Ttala, now changed into his pyjamas, came downstairs and made himself a drink by the kitchen table during Mmanuell's recap to correct him whenever he tried to sugar-coat this or that.

'Heh, you know how many times I've seen this boy shirtless in front of the mirror checking to see if any patterns have grown in? Whole town's waiting for them at this point, fufu~'

'THANK YOU, Mum(!)' Mmanuell coughs, before waving his mother away and taking one of the sandwiches she finished making, 'Any day now.'

Ttala scratches his beard and ponders aloud, 'You know, funny enough, Sharla just cussed Mmanuell out about his Ascentday coming up soon when I went to drop Kkele and Ssamuell home.'

'Like it's any of her business,' Teegan kisses her teeth.

Mmanuell grumbles, 'I don't know, though. I kinda feel...underprepared for my Ascentday, which is probably gonna happen sometime...next week, at this point? I don't want to get beat up by a lizard in front of the entire town. I don't like the way she talks but she has a point.'

'Then you should get some training in while you still can,' Ttala said. 'You can't be one of those "glass cannon" mages if you ever want to be a good Dreacon, believe you me, boy.'

'Of course not, Dad, I know that. I could come with you when you go to work tonight? How's that sound?'

Ttala takes a large gulp from the cup of iced stout punch he's drinking and shakes his finger. 'No. If the next Wyvern Event wasn't around the corner, then yeah. But not right now, there are levels to this kind of thing. Mum will bring you up to scratch in the meantime.'

'Alright. Mum?' Mmanuell turns to his mother, who cheekily flexes her biceps and winks at Mmanuell.

'Of course! Well, you know Magic is my forte but I can, have and will beat your dad in a fight.' Teegan sticks her tongue out at Ttala, who rolls his eyes at that remark, which prompts her to coyly whispers in Mmanuell's ear, '(He just doesn't want to admit it).'

Ttala looks up at his wife from above his drink and nods towards the clock, 'I heard that, isn't your break nearly over now?'

'Huh? Oh, sh!- Okay boys, it's time for me to go! I'll see you both when I get back! Let your dad sleep, Mmanuell. Byeee!' Teegan leaves in a hurry, dragging her coat and bag behind her with pegs of Ice Magic as she slams the front door open and shut with such haste that it almost seemed like she phased through it. From inside, Mmanuell can hear his mother haphazardly launch herself into the air with a slate of Wind Magic, which ripped through the air and painted the kitchen window with a fresh coat of snow as she blasts off in the direction of her usual route to work. The roaring gust fades as the seconds go by, and soon it's just Mmanuell, Ttala, and the usual afternoon ambience. The whirr of the Fire Gemstone Boiler, the synthetic ticking of the fancy Narishaelan kitchen clock, and the periodical crackling hum of the house's foundation thunder cable.

Ttala finishes his drink and pats Mmanuell on the back as he puts his cup in the sink. 'You know the drill.'

'Stay inside, no noise, no foolishness,' Mmanuell recounts.

'Okay. Goodnight son.'

'Night, Dad.'

Ttala trudges upstairs and shuts the door to his room, leaving Mmanuell to his own devices. He didn't get lunch on account of how the day played out, so Mmanuell appreciatively wolfs down the rest of the sandwiches of assorted fillings his mother made, particularly enjoying the peanut butter and honey one. Well, I don't think Kkele or Ssamuell are going to be let outside for the rest of today, Mmanuell thinks to himself as he hauls the confiscation chest up to his bedroom, but not before dumping the Pallobalt box he brought it home in in the back garden.

I swear, the day my Gates grow in is the day shit gets serious around here.

I'm gonna be so fucking cool it's ridiculous.

I wonder what Affinity I'll have. I want Lava Magic.

These, among other things, are what Mmanuell spends the majority of the rest of the day thinking to himself as he decorates his room with the spoils of today's venture, gleefully humming to himself. He doesn't forget to set a couple of items aside for Kkele and Sam that he thinks they might like, but only the stuff that Mmanuell doesn't want more.

He fell asleep on the floor, collapsed from exhaustion, thinking about how cool he would be as a full-fledged Mage.