Waverly actually had something to say about that, but before she could open her mouth, Chad had already begun growling.
“Bro, there’s no one stronger in the class than me, bro. I’m level 12, bro!” Chad said arms spread wide. And then, because no one was impressed by that, he added “100% Alpha, bro!” which was even dumber. That stuff had been scientifically disproven ages ago.
“So you’re really going to hide behind some tiny ass bitch? You some sort of Beta, like your Dad?”
Okay, this had gone on for long enough. Waverly could handle being called a bitch. It was actually kinda correct if you thought about it, even though Chad totally didn’t mean it scientifically, for sure. But then there was the whole alpha/beta thing and generally acting super stereotypical and Waverly was not about that, at all.
Plus, she also kinda wanted to fight. It had been a stressful evening, and she could totally use the chance to vent.
“I told you to stop calling me Bitch,” Waverly said, and everyone looked at her. Usually, that would have totally freaked her out, but the other cool thing about fighting was that it was like math, because once she got into it, nothing else really mattered. It was super relaxing, in a really weird way.
Plus, this guy was dumb and she couldn’t really imagine deferring to him for the next four years, or even longer if he wanted to do a Master’s, and she already had told him she would put him down and above everything, she always wanted to keep her promises.
Also, she really wanted to fight.
“So, like, you know what happens now.”
Duel proposed. Waiting for opponent…
“Yeah, I’m going to show you your place, b-“
Request for Duel accepted!
Waverly Bloodhowl - VS - Chad Barkerton
You may now place your wagers until the Duel begins!
The Duel has begun!
Wagers are now closed!
Duel complete.
Winner: Waverly Bloodhowl - Werewolf
Before Chad could even finish that last word, Waverly had already shifted into her full werewolf form, casually stepped past him, and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. She then hooked one foot around his ankle, twisted, and pulled.
He was on his back with his tail between his legs before the System text was even done scrolling. It was kinda disappointing.
Well done! Clearly demonstrating that the concept of an “Alpha Male” is a myth in both wolf packs and sapient society just netted you 1712 [Werewolf] experience!
Awesome! For being the first Werewolf in your college class to win a duel, you just got 10000 [Werewolf] experience!
Level up! You are now a lvl 18 [Werewolf]! Fuck yeah!
“Ohhhhhhh!” Waverly said, shifting back to her wolfgirl form while the hellish fire of her lvlup enveloped her. Level 18! Finally! She was a legal adult, and on her first day of college no less! And when she turned to Victor, wagging her tail enthusiastically, she noticed she wasn’t the only one.
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Congratulations! For lurking in the shadows, scheming while lesser races make a nuisance of themselves, you have been awarded 72 [Vampire] experience.
Ascension! You now stand a lvl 3 [Vampire]!
Your combined level is now: Level 18 [Catboy-Vampire]!
Congratulations! For allowing your minions to rid you of a nuisance, and thus protecting both your regal air and fittingly superior demeanour, you have been awarded 2500 [Vampire] experience.
Ascension! You now stand a lvl 4 [Vampire]!
Your combined level remains: Level 18 [Catboy-Vampire]!
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“Yo nice,” Victor said. Two experience triggers and two levels in [Vampire]. That pushed him past level 17, finally. And on his first day of College, no less.
“Woooow, you too?” Waverly asked, tail swishing behind her. She didn’t pay any attention to Chad, who was looking up at her like he just found religion. His posse had vanished, too. Victor almost felt bad for the guy. Almost.
Waverly was just about to say something when Chad piped up.
“You have to let me join your pack!”
Waverly rolled her eyes and groaned silently, her ears flicking with annoyance. She looked as if she steeled herself, then she turned around and told the guy no in many colorful words that Victor thought were still very polite. He was no expert, but he knew enough about werewolf social systems to understand that Waverly was now effectively the leader of her class, as far as Werewolves were concerned. She seemed good at it, too. So he just leaned back and watched her do her thing.
She was cool, but not like his other friends. They all wore nice clothes and had this razor-sharp ambition to level up and surpass their parents. That had never really appealed to Victor. Running a Torture 100 Dungeon was a lot of stress he didn’t know he wanted, no matter how interesting it was. And no matter how much he loved his Dad, his daily routine of naps and the occasional fashion shoot was a little too boring for Victor.
Waverly was a different kind of cool. Authentic, he guessed. And apparently, also the kind of person who walked out on parties when they got to be too much.
Finally, Chad managed to get a word in edgewise, until Waverly cut through his whining with a groan.
“Like, no, Chad. Becoming part of my pack wasn’t part of the duel. You don’t have a pack. I get it. It sucks. But that’s like, not my problem.”
“But there’s gotta be, like, something I can do!”
Waverly sighed again, her hands falling to her side before she crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, you know what, fine. If you can beat all my brothers in a duel, you get ONE date. ONE.”
Chad’s eyes lit up.
“Now get the fuck outta here,” Waverly said, and Chad scrambled to his feet, ran for the door, and dashed into the party before Waverly could think about it. He’d left the door open, and some spoken-word improvisational Jazz wafted out of the room, coupled with the sounds of a crowd going wild.
Waverly closed the door with a shake of her head.
“Like, how can they listen to this stuff? It’s like the audio version of going hiking and getting burrs in your tail.”
“Dunno,” Victor said as Waverly came back and resumed her place on the bench as if nothing had happened. “Maybe they like it because there’s nothing else.”
“Well, there’s, like, the Old Music,” Waverly said, her tongue poking out of her mouth as she tried to find a spot that was comfortable for her tail.
“The Old Music?” Victor asked. He’d never heard of that before.
“Yeah!” Waverly said, holding her tail in her hand, trying to figure out a solution to her problem. “People at the bar I go to talk about it sometimes, but I guess they don’t want me to hear them because they always stop then they notice I’m listening.”
“You mean like, classical?” Victor asked.
“Nah, can’t be that. Come on you stupid fucking… stop wagging! Sorry, I mean they have classical on at the bar sometimes, so it can’t be that. They always say they’re gonna tell me when I’m older.”
“Like, level-wise?” Because Waverly was more than 18 years old if she was in college.
“Yeah! Oh and thanks, by the way, for letting me do the fighting,” Waverly said, finally wagging her tail with a blissful expression after she threaded it through the gaps in the backrest. “I wished it would have gone longer, but like, it was also fine because I just bought this blouse and I really like it and I don’t want to get it all dirty and stuff, you know?”
Victor smiled. “No worries. I thought about taking over, but you seemed confident. If I had jumped in, it would have made you look bad.”
Waverly grinned. “Yeah! I got, like, a huge boost and, like, a first-time achievement, too!” She paused for dramatic effect, then said, “Made me hit level 18!” in a stage whisper. She winked proudly, too.
Victor’s smile widened into a grin. “Yoooooo nice!”
Level 18 on a single class, at her age? That was a damn big accomplishment.
“You too, right?” Waverly asked, grabbing her tail with both hands and pushing it through the slats. The question took Victor by surprise a little. He hadn’t thought Waverly would remember his level, let alone do the math on it after everything that happened.
“Yeah,” he said. “Two levels. Actually got to Level four in [Vampire], which brings me to level 18 overall.”
“Level twinsieeeeees!” Waverly hollered, and Victor laughed. She joined in, and they just hooted and celebrated for a while.
When their laughter ebbed, Victor said, “Also, I don’t know if I could have kicked his ass that hard. How’d you get so good?”
“Ohhhhhh,” Waverly said, tailwagging intensifying. “Levels aren’t everything, right? There’s this place I wandered into one day when I was still a kid, almost a puppy, really, but like at the time I was wandering around a lot because Mom and Dad were doing double shifts to afford the new house for all of us and anyway, I walked into this bar that has fight nights. They are amazing. At first, like, I was a little scared because the first thing I saw was this Minotaur completely demolish an Orc, but they always have a few healers on standby and I think the bartender used to work for Death or knows him or whatever, and they get free resurrections in there, but usually it’s never that bad. Anyway, I’m rambling, sorry, but I have kinda been going every week for, like, ever, and after a while the guys and gals started teaching me stuff and…” she stopped mid-sentence, hesitant.
Victor’s eyebrows rose. “Dope,” he said, waiting for her to go on.
And she grinned and kept going and Victor realized he had just made a friend.
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Waverly kept talking about the CrowBar and her friends there and how they were all awesome. She usually talked a lot after fighting, and she thought maybe that was because of the adrenaline, but that was okay. Usually, she just kinda talked to herself or journaled or whatever because she didn’t want to annoy people with her blabbering. Even her little brothers and sisters complained if she talked too much after a while, and her parents were too tired after their shifts to listen to her for too long.
But Victor… Victor actually seemed to like it. She couldn’t quite believe it, not yet, but at least trying to believe it felt good, and maybe that was okay for just tonight. She needed a bit of a boost because she had fucked up again.
Mom and Dad didn’t like it when she fought against other Denizens of Hell, and they were kind of right. It was archaic and especially made Werewolves like her look super bad. Mom and Dad always said that she didn’t just go to college for herself, but for all the other Werewolves, too, and that she needed to give the people here a reason to understand that ‘wolves weren’t just brainless thugs with ego problems, or breeding bitches just looking for a way to throw another litter.
It was also the reason they didn’t like her going to the CrowBar and to fight nights especially, but how else was she going to keep up with all the other people, first in High School and then in College? Should she just wait until her first dungeon job to break lvl 10 or what? No one employed a level 7 werewolf as a named rare, let alone a dungeon boss. It had all been so much easier for them when they were young, because they fought all the time.
Still, she guessed they were right.
And she’d gone and fought another guy for supremacy in the first 24 hours.
But actually, maybe that didn’t really matter.
Because as Victor tilted his head and nodded along as Waverly spoke, she realized that she’d made a friend.