Javqua held an ice pack against her snout, collapsed on her bed.

She could still taste the Tyn-laca mokancia from the dinner Tom had made; in all honesty, it had made it feel as if her stomach was filled with burning hot lava, which was definitely not a pleasant feeling. It was then that Javqua heard a light knock on the door, and she let out a weakened grunt of confirmation in response.

Tom walked into her room, an apologetic look on his face.

“Umm...are you feeling any better?” He asked hesitantly, and Javqua groaned.

“It feels as though my stomach has been set ablaze,” She answered bluntly.

Tom chuckled, and Javqua sat up, glaring at him, which promptly shut him up.

“Listen - I’m really sorry. In my defence, I wanted your first…human meal to be special, you know? Something memorable.” He explained.

“It was memorable alright.” Javqua snorted, letting out a weak laugh.

“Wait...Tom. I have an idea on how you can make it up to me.” Javqua said with an unreadable expression.

Thomas began to look slightly worried, prompting her to elaborate. “The holidays aren't too far away and I was just thinking that… you know, it would be cool to take you to Kravenka… but if you have other things to do, I totally understand…” Javqua began to trail off, and Thomas spoke up.

“I’d love to go! I don't really have any reasons to go back to New Britannia anytime soon, so why not” He exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Great!” Javqua said, “I can show you my family in person...where I grew up...the lakes and forests-” she stated happily until she, once again, was forced into a very painful-sounding coughing fit.

“Good thing tomorrow’s an off-day,” Thomas murmured, looking down at her in concern.

“I’m fine! *Cough* It’ll take a lot more than some spices to kill me!” Javqua insisted.

A lightbulb seemed to switch on inside Thomas's head because he suddenly spoke. “Wait here.” He said before quickly leaving the room.

Javqua was confused. Did he really expect her to go anywhere in this state?

A couple of minutes later, she heard the door opening and Thomas putting something down onto the kitchen countertop. Then, her bedroom door opened, and Thomas entered, holding a glass of white liquid.

He held it out to her awkwardly. “Milk. It’ll help with the spiciness. Well, it should. I think it’ll work for you-”

Javqua took the glass of ‘milk’ and began to drink. Her pain began to fade, and she looked up at Tom.

“It’s helping!” She said, and Tom looked relieved. “Be right back.” He said, leaving her room once again.

Tom returned with a small vertical carton, labelled ‘Milk’, putting it down next to her.

“Thanks.” Javqua smiled in relief, and Tom smiled back. “No need. It’s the least I could’ve done, right?” He said.

“I guess. What is this? How’d you know it’d help me?” Javqua asked, and Tom nodded. “It’s a human drink. We uhh...extract it from animals.” He murmured awkwardly.

“Oh, so like blood,” Javqua said. “Yeah, sure, let’s say that.” Tom grinned, shaking his head.

----------------------------------------

Valus contemplated his actions; mainly around as to why in the name of the Queen he was going through with his plan of...spying.

Making sure that he was camouflaged to the row of trees leading up to the staff dormitory apartment, he slowly but surely made his way to the front entrance. He began thinking of ways to get inside when the doors swung wide open. Valus almost jumped back in fear as two teachers walked out, talking.

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Immersed in their conversation, they didn’t seem to notice him; the slightly-off coloured patch of green pressed up against a bush.

Taking a deep breath, Valus took the opportunity; rushing through the doors and inside the staff apartment. Making his way to the nearest shadow, he took a moment to compose himself.

With his heart pounding in his chest, he slowly made his way over to the nearest elevator; only a couple of antennae away.

His eyes darted towards a camera in the far corner of the ground floor. It was on, there was no doubt about that. Would he remain undetected?

Valus expected security droids to rush out at any moment; ruining his life forever. He could already imagine how his family would react.

“Valus! You waste of nesting space! What were you thinking? Why would you sneak into the teacher’s dormitory?” - His mother, most likely.

“Unrelated question, Valus; are you...perchance...struggling with school? Were you trying to...say...negotiate with your teachers?” - His third oldest sister.

“I can’t believe Valus actually did something interesting for once!” - His third younger brother, to his fourth younger brother.

“I knew the boy had spirit! Rebel! Fight back! ” - His grandfather, most definitely.

“I told you crack-face would do something stupid while at Clevin 4! You owe me ten credits!” - One of his many aggravating older sisters, to one of his older brothers.

Valus shook his head and forced the thoughts out of his mind. He was going to succeed. Reaching the elevator, he paused. Should he call on the elevator himself, or wait for someone to open the doors for him?

Reaching out with a trembling hand, he pushed the elevator button, before hearing multiple voices approaching, fast.

He spotted several school cafeteria workers, and they’d most definitely see him.

Please open. PLEASE OPEN. Valus pushed on the elevator button harder, hoping that would do something. Finally, the elevator doors opened, and he fell inside, pressing the elevator’s close button frantically.

Valus let out a sigh of relief, burying his face into his now silvery gray hands.

That was close. Too close. Standing up, he pressed the button to the fifth floor - the highest floor, where the headmaster lived. Now that Valus thought about it, the headmaster having an entire floor to himself was so...snobbish.

Surely he wasn’t the only one who felt that way? His thoughts were stopped when the elevator doors opened, and he peered out. The headmaster was nowhere to be seen - just him, the empty hallway, and a lot of doors. A lot.

Approaching one of the many doors, he turned the handle and...it opened? Valus didn’t question it. The headmaster probably had all his doors unlocked for convenience, which made sense - after all, everybody else was forbidden from going to his ‘special floor’.

Pulling out small listening devices from his bag which he had bought the day before, he placed one in each room. What he saw in some of the rooms was…to say the least, weird - but some were just straight creepy.

One room he entered was literally just pictures of the headmaster… everywhere. He had basically wallpapered it with photos of himself from all sorts of angles, contrasts, colours and locations… talk about egotistical.

Another room was exclusively for VR, and Valus looked around. Besides a comfortable-looking bed for staying on, there was a shelf, packed with all sorts of expensive-looking VR implants.

Looking closer, Valus could see that they were; with most of them made from well-known VR companies. There was simply no way the headmaster could afford all of them; was he…taking money from the school's budget?

Valus felt a little guilty that he didn’t doubt the idea too much.

Maybe he just saved up a lot? He thought as he planted a listening device in a little crevice behind the shelf, before moving onto the next room.

The next few rooms were ‘normal’. One was a large bathroom, another seemed to be for meditation, with a padded floor, and large speakers playing calming music. A third seemed to be for exercise, with underwater treadmills and dumbbells.

Then, Valus entered another room. Once he took a good look around, he tensed. It was filled to the brim with xenophobic propaganda and hate speech, in the form of papers, and digital screens and copies.

It made him feel sick that someone so hateful would be in charge of a school.

Sadly, it wasn't illegal to be a part of such a group; not that Valus could even prove the headmaster was. Maybe the room was for...for...he couldn’t even stand up for the headmaster this time. Why would anybody have a room dedicated to something so...vile?

This would be great evidence if he's caught doing something nefarious though…Valus thought to himself as he took several photos, collecting as much evidence as possible.

He had had enough. Quietly exiting the room, he walked down the hall, when all of a sudden he heard an all-too-familiar sound.

The elevator doors opening.

Scrambling back, Valus dove back inside the room - positioning himself behind the door, and waiting. It wasn't long until the headmaster walked into the room he was in, muttering to himself angrily.

Valus managed to overhear some of the Magistra’s words.

“I hate the smell of meat…it’s so...disgusting - like that one girl I hooked up with that didn’t wash her-” Valus was unable to hear the rest as he snuck himself out of the room and made a quiet dash to the elevator.

Calling the elevator, he threw himself inside and spammed the ground floor button, letting out a huge sigh of relief.

Once the elevator doors opened, he scuttled out the apartment building, and dove behind a large tree, smiling madly. He had done it. He had succeeded.

Then, he felt an odd, tight sensation above his head. His antennae were tangled. Fuck.