November waltzed toward me, with the group’s leader just behind her. Remembering that the only thing that had compelled me to join this mission was her well-timed guilt trip, I had long since decided that I wasn’t particularly concerned over how the mission itself went – the only task I was obligated to fulfill was mere participation. Therefore, I reasoned, I didn’t especially need to be friendly with the other participants.

“Where did you find this gem, Vember?” I asked, nodding toward the leader and smiling somewhat at the trouble I knew I was about to cause.

“I was just going to ask her the same thing.” The man beside her gave me a patronizing smirk. I looked him up and down. He was big, that much couldn’t be argued. He was certainly taller than her. Nevertheless, he wasn’t quite as tall as me, or near as wide, though he was unquestionably able-bodied. In spite of this, I noticed that November, though not especially tall, was nearly as bulky as him.

“This is Lynx.” She disregarded my attempt at pot-stirring as she launched into introductions. “He’s a master in the art of applying heavy damage in a very short amount of time.”

A brute force expert? I contemplated silently. Is it possible this may actually be an impressive fellow? A man after my own heart? I sighed internally. I had already decided not to like him – now I was going to have to reverse course to learn his ways.

“Lynx, this is Arrow,” November continued. “He has an impressive wealth of knowledge regarding this place.”

My word! I was appalled. “November!” I protested. “That cannot possibly be my defining characteristic in this operation.”

“Oh, what,” she scoffed, “did you think we were going to be utilizing your monster slaying abilities?”

I gaped at her, flabbergasted, as Lynx let out a hardy laugh. “Of course I’ve heard of the great and mighty Arrow, the man who believes himself to be too talented to need any help. In fact, I bet he bucked against the idea of working on a team when you invited him here! Right, Vem?”

Well. There goes the idea of befriending this bonehead. Vember raised an eyebrow at me expectantly. I raised one back at her. “Since when do you go by Vem now?”

“It’s what her friends call her, Hammerhead. You would know that if you bothered to spend time with people.” Lynx continued his cackling with this statement, and was very quickly testing my temper.

I was about to bite back when November threw her hands up. “Alright, alright! That’s enough, you two. Come on, Lynx, don’t scare him off now. Arrow is quite valuable and we’d benefit greatly if he were to stay with us.” I realized she was flattering me on purpose, yet even so, the words soothed my rage to some extent; just enough for me to cease my contemplation of beginning a mutiny against Lynx. “Why don’t you explain to Arrow what we’re planning on here?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Lynx let out one last chuckle. “Ah, yes, of course. Well, first of all, we won’t be wasting any time on trying to actually solve the maze. That’s a wild goose chase that only a fool would fall victim to.”

I nodded my approval. “I’m with you so far.”

“So then,” Lynx went on, “that just leaves us with the option of destroying the fence.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” I sighed, “but I still don’t understand the optimism in this plan. This has been attempted before. What does this team have that those who came before us lacked?”

“Look around!” Lynx gestured to the massive crowd around us. “We have 250 people here! The largest recorded group to ever brave the maze together had just 50 people.”

“Hmm.” He had made a good point, but I still wasn’t convinced. Surely it couldn’t be that easy. Regardless, I’d play along for the time being. “What happens if we succeed?”

"Then the mansion is ours!” Lynx threw his hands up in premature victory.

“All 250 of us?” I crossed my arms skeptically. “Now by what means do you expect 250 people to share one mansion?”

“Hammerhead, just look at that thing!” He pointed emphatically at the massive building, while I made an effort not to allow myself to be derailed by the defamatory nickname that was evidently sticking. Nicknames aside, as I raised my gaze to the mansion before me, I was more or less astounded by the sheer enormity of the thing. “The experts on our team think there’s enough room for 300 people to live there!”

“300 people…?” My voice was heavy with doubt.

“Don’t believe me? Well, you’ll just have to see when we get in there!” Lynx whirled around, filled with determination, and marched off into the midst of the crowd, leaving me and November to watch him.

“Well…what did you think?” November looked at me with anticipatory eyes.

Upon considering her question, I concluded that I was vexed by how interested I now was in finding on what was truly in the mansion. I was becoming just like the locals, just like November, which made me fear I had been wrong to criticize her interest in the mission – which made me even more indignant.

I turned my gaze back to the mansion, away from her. “I think I’m surprised you’re not off following around your real friends, Vem.” The sheer unkindness of my statement wasn’t lost on me, but I couldn’t help myself. Lynx had done a phenomenal job of destroying whatever cheerful demeanor I’d had left.

November stood in silence for quite a while, testing my will as I continued to refuse to look at her. If I did, I knew I would be due for yet another guilt trip, and who knew what she would make me do this time.

"I’m allowed to have friends other than you, Arrow.”

This strike of guilt was much sharper than the last, and it knocked my gaze from the mansion down to the ground. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

The silence remained for another stretch before she finally spoke again. “Has it really never occurred to you that you could call me Vem?”

“Of course not.” The ease in tension allowed me to at least meet her gaze once again. As I did, I detected a friendly smile returning to her face. “Would you ever think to call me Arr? No, that would be ridiculous. Besides that, you already have a nickname. It’s Vember. Why shorten it further?”

She chuckled faintly. “Well, if you do come around to it, you’re more than welcome to call me Vem.”

I entertained the notion for a moment. “I suppose it is something catchy. Short and to the point. Aside from that, it could mitigate the potential for confusion. After all, how are you to know whether I’m saying ‘No, Vember’ or ‘November’?”

“Context clues.” She winked.

“I’ll consider it,” I resolved. I was just about to reiterate my question to her as to how she had met Lynx, but I was soon interrupted.

“Alright, folks!” Lynx’s voice, though distant, was loud enough to heard unobscured from where we stood. “It’s time to start destroying the maze.”