Yanaes was playing with his toy dart gun.  It was the only toy his parents could agree on that he could play with.  His mother would let him play with pretty much any toy, but his father was different.  He didn’t approve of Yanaes playing with paints, jewelry, or dolls.  And so he played with the “boy toys” while his father was home, so that if and when his parents fought, at least it wouldn’t be about what toys he was playing with.  

It seemed like every night they were fighting about something, and it seemed like that day would be no different.  Their voices were loud, and scary.  He hated when they fought, but he loved to watch his mother.  She was so cool, and brave.  She wasn’t afraid of anything, including his father.  He couldn’t help but put his ear to the air vent, to listen in on the conversation.

That night there was no argument for him to listen to.  Not anymore.  All he could hear were sounds of violence.  Snapping wood and breaking glass echoed up through the air vent, with only the occasional grunt and shout to follow.  They weren’t fighting like they usually fought, and it petrified the little lamia.  His worry continued to intensify until he heard a shrill yelp.  He had never heard his mother make a noise like that before.  Yanaes scrambled from his seat on the floor.  He had to know what was happening to his mother.  As scared as he was, he opened the door to his room and crawled down the spiral ramp, quivering with fear.

“You slippery bitch,” he heard his father say.  Yanaes peered down into the living room to see his parents wrapped together in a vicious knot, trying to keep one another from an unholstered gun.  His mother’s left arm hung limply at her side as she pushed his father off of her and crashed him into a cabinet.  The wood snapped and fell away, dropping pictures and trinkets over his father’s body as he scrambled up from the broken frames and glass.  She made a lunge for her gun, but his father pulled her back toward him, raising his fist to strike her.

Yanaes couldn’t watch anymore.  All he could do was bolt to his room and listen to his mother scream and shout.  His father was going to kill her.  He was certain of it.

Yanaes rushed for his window and quickly opened it.  He could hear his parents struggling down below, and it pushed him forward.  He had to go next door.  Mister Leerhart could save his mom, he thought.  He was so big and strong, the little lamia was sure that he could stop his father.  Yanaes could see Aire and Eleris open their window as he climbed onto his window sill.  He reached out and grabbed a hold of the tree branch near him, shifting his weight over until the branch broke under his mass, dropping him to the ground.

A loud thud grabbed Aire’s attention as Yanaes fell off Eleris’s bed, faceplanting hard on the floor and stirring the elder sister.  Naturally, it nearly startled Aire out of her beanbag chair.

“What the- Yan!  Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine!  Totally fine.  Just practicing my dragoon stance,” the lamia assured her.

Eleris giggled hard at the lamia’s crumpled body, leaning over the edge of the bed to grin down at him.  “No one dragoons like you, Yan,” the pinkette remarked.  Aire let out a heavy sigh, rolling her eyes as Yanaes slithered across the floor next her.  She glanced down to see Yanaes looking up at her from his prone position, looking like a dog that was appealing to his master after having an accident.

“…Good boy,” she said as she rustled his layered hair.  He hummed happily, nuzzling up next to her.  Yesterday was a good day.  They rocked their presentations, got a sick new homeroom class, befriended the mysterious Arlee, and they even got to see her thralls without their parents going nuts.  He couldn’t wait to start the next day, and woke up bright and early to chill with his best friends before school.  Eleris even used his tail as a pillow.  It was so comfortingly nostalgic that it lulled him to sleep, and not even a nightmare about his father could sour that moment in his eyes.  Yanaes’s time with the Leerhart sisters was ineffably precious to him.  And yet, something else was bothering the lamia.

“Hey Aire, can I ask you something?”  The teal-haired girl merely cocked her head toward him.  “What were you thinking about when we were walking to school?”  Aire froze to the spot, trying to think of a way out of this line of dialogue.

“I thought I told you, I was thinking about the weather,” she tried to brush him off.  “It was really windy.”  At that moment she felt his hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see a look of disappointment on his face.

“Come on.  We promised each other; no lies, no secrets.”  He gently placed his hand over the controller she was using, silently but insistently demanding her attention.  “What were you thinking about?”  Eleris looked down at Aire from atop her perch on her bed.  The poor girl felt like she was being put on trial.

“I...I was thinking about the night your dad was arrested,” she began.  “When you fell.  I was thinking about when I watched you fall out of the tree.”  Yanaes was taken aback by her response.

“Oh.  I-I see,” he finally stammered out.  “Yeah, that was… really intense.  When that branch broke, I thought I was going to…”

“I thought you died, Yan,” she said, struggling to stay composed.  “Until Dad woke you up, I thought I watched you die.  Sometimes I keep…  replaying that, over and over in my head.  Dad ran outside, and… I was just up there, staring out my window.  You weren’t moving.”  At those words, Yanaes’s tail slowly pulled Aire toward the rest of his body.

“Aire… do you think about that moment every time you see me?”  She couldn’t answer him.  She struggled to even look him in the eyes.  He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them tenderly.  “Aire… It’s okay.  It’s all okay.  You know how that story ends.  I didn’t die.  I’m still right here.  Your dad saved my mom.  You and El helped save my mom.”  She held his hand and allowed him to wrap his arms around her, pulling her off of her beanbag chair and into a hug.  

“... I never understood it,” Eleris spoke up, quietly.  “The fighting kept me up and gave me nightmares, even before that, but that night, when Aire was so… when she was looking down, I ran and cried, all the way to our parents’ room.  All I needed to tell Dad was that Yan was hurt, and I’d heard screaming from next door.”  Her bangs shadowed her face entirely as she moved from her bed and sat beside Yanaes and Aire.  “I’ve never seen Dad so angry in my life.” 

“El…” Aire so rarely saw her sister appear vulnerable, it stunned her.  As strong and easy-going as she knew her sister to be, Eleris carried herself in that moment with all the timid anxiety they had both felt as children, nearly twelve years ago.  

“You’re not the only one who still has nightmares about that night.  My mind was racing.  What if Yan was paralyzed, or dead?  What if our dad… went too far?”  She held herself, curling up on the floor and placing her head onto Aire’s shoulder.  “It could have just as easily been our dad going to prison that night… and yours in a casket.”

“But none of that happened,” Yanaes said to them, wrapping an arm around Eleris.  “My mom and I survived that night, and it’s all because of you and your parents.  I will never be able to repay that.  You two are my angels.” 

“... Be honest with us though.  You still think about it,” Aire stated with the slightest indignation.

“Of course I do.”  There was no hesitation in his voice as he answered.  “Every day.  I’ll never forget my dad, and how he pushed me and my mom around.  I’ll never forget the nights they fought, the stuff they broke.  I will always remember how he tried to kill her, watching them as they fought over a gun.  I’ll always remember when I tried to climb out the window and when I fell.  But you know what else I’ll always remember?” he asked them with a smile.

“When your dad woke me up.  When I begged him to help, and he ran into my house.  I’ll never forget when your mom carried me into your house, and you two came down the stairs crying.  You held me so tightly, it made me feel safe when I was so scared.  And when the ambulance came to take me and Mama to the hospital, you followed us there, and you took me home with you until my mom was discharged.  You and your parents have always been there for us.”  Yanaes took a deep breath as he hugged them both.

“That’s what I will always remember.  That was the scariest night of my life, and you were there for me.”  He squeezed the two sisters close to him, with all of his body.  “I love you.  Both of you.  I always have, and I always will.”

The sisters traded glances over the lamia’s back, both of them taken aback by Yanaes’s words.  After a brief pause, it was Eleris who returned the embrace, and Aire followed suit.  Listening to him talk about that awful night felt so surreal to her.  He recounted the same terrible night that haunted them with the same goofy smile he used to greet them every morning, not because it didn’t scare him, but because she and her family helped him and his mother when they needed it most.  He smiled because he loved them.  Aire couldn’t help but wonder if Aunt Vrelli felt the same way about her parents. 

“...Dammit, dude,” Aire finally spoke up.  “Why would you drop something heavy like that this early in the morning?”  She sighed as she rested her head on Yanaes’s shoulder and looked out the window at the morning light, holding him close to her and her sister as she took silent comfort in his words.  “...We love you, too… But, do you really have to crash our room this early on a regular basis?” 

“Eh, it’s not so bad,” Eleris chimed in.  “I get to lift weights, have my back massaged, eat breakfast, and chill before school.  All so I can go to my classes, sleep through my classes, and mooch off Lea and Yan’s notes.  Life is good.”  Eleris smiled as her sister pushed her glasses up on her nose, narrowing her eyes.  It wasn’t like either of them had the best diet, but it definitely showed more on Eleris than Aire.  Probably due to all the sleeping.  

“El… I can’t tell how serious you are or not.  You eat breakfast here AND at school anyways, so…”  She reached over, and pinched El’s midriff.  “Keep it up, and Dad’ll be on your ass about getting soft.”

“Hey, you try keeping up with Dad,” Eleris shot back.  “There’s only so many hours in the day to work out, eat breakfast, hang with Yan, go to school, make out with Lea, eat brunch, sleep in class, make out with Lea, eat lunch-"

“We get it.  You eat, sleep, and make out with Lea.  Stop making me jealous,” Yanaes whined playfully.  Eleris just stuck her tongue out at him in response; it was just how they were with each other, really.  The lamia snickered before taking a deep breath, still holding the sisters close to him.  

“…Thank you,” he finally said.  “From the bottom of my heart.”  It was right about then that Aire and Eleris’s mom opened the door. 

“Breakfast is ready, if you three are done cuddling.”  It wasn’t like she wasn’t aware of why they were so close, or even that she had a problem with it; she just liked teasing the kids about it in her own way.  After all, having your mom involved could bring out the red in any teenager’s cheeks, and she was basically a second mother to Yanaes, too.  However…

“Nope, not done yet.”  Yanaes replied without missing a beat, taking Rerrarie’s comment in stride. 

“Aw, not even for Arkus raspberry pancakes and sausage?”  At that, Eleris proceeded to uncoil Yanaes from both herself and her sister by hand (to the lamia’s playfully whining protest) while Aire finally managed to sigh and save her game, looking at the time.  Plenty of time to eat AND get to school early, as usual.  Watching her sister bolt past her mom, she sighed and began to ask something she likely already knew the answer to. 

“Dad having breakfast with us today?”  Rerrarie just shook her head and gave her daughter a little smile. 

“Yeah… not today.  He was out of here at O-five-hundred, and just took some hard-boiled eggs with him.  Thankfully, your dad’s contract for this particular assignment is almost up.  Just in time for your sister’s birthday.  It’ll be nice to spend it with all four of us again.”

Yanaes leaned out from behind Aire, giving Rerrarie a pleading look.  “...What?”  His pleading look intensified as a smirk crawled its way onto her face.  “Yan, I’m teasing you.  Of course you’re invited.”  The lamia in question wiggled happily as he danced behind Aire, who couldn’t help but hold her face in her hand as she descended the stairs. 

Of course, her sister was already eating.  Each plate was stacked with thick, fluffy pancakes with juicy raspberries cooked right into the batter and accompanied with a side of savory smelling breakfast sausage.  And Eleris’ plate was already nearly half finished.  Because of course it was.  “Watching my sister eat is… yeah.  Kinda mesmerizing for all the wrong reasons.”

“Yeah.  For all the right reasons~…” Yanaes paraphrased.  Of course, it was all delicious, because their mom and Vrelli both could put out amazing breakfasts for some reason.  Honestly, Aire just considered it a mom thing at this point, and didn’t question it as she ate, instead turning to Yanaes as he took the seat next to her.

“So.  Day two in magic class, basically.  I feel like all my enthusiasm is gonna go into that room, and everything else will be that much more meh, you know?”

“Maybe for you,” Yanaes said as he fixed his plate.  “I still have AP Calc with Lea and Home Ec with Tsubaki.  Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t take Modern Lit.  You could have skated by and written all your essays on video game scripts.”  

“Ew, and write even more useless essays than I already have to?  I’ll pass.  I already have Chemistry with Revvet… though that just boils down to her teaching me more than the actual teacher does.”

“I’m just saying you could have taken classes where you can write essays on what you actually like, instead of studying stuff that actively bores you.  It’s like you want to be miserable in school.”  Aire just stopped eating for a moment to give Yanaes a funny look.  She didn’t want to be miserable in school, she just found the actual reason they went to school to be dull.  She made good to passing grades while fooling around and playing video games, and her sister managed the same while sleeping through half their classes. 

“Yan, about half of school is miserable.  If I’m not hanging out with people I like, I’m listening to boring lectures on subjects I don’t care about, talking to people I have no interest in talking with, or learning things that just aren’t that useful.  Before Elemental Studies, History was our most interesting class.”  Another bite of pancake entered her mouth, as her mother sighed from the kitchen. 

“If everything’s so boring, why don’t you take advanced courses?”  Aire rolled her eyes, stuffing another bite in her mouth, her sister just listening as she enjoyed breakfast. 

“Yeah, no.  I’ve seen the stack of assignments Lea has to grind through for homework.  I’m bored, not masochistic.”  Her fork pointed at Yanaes, as she swallowed her next bite.  “And don’t you dare suggest I willingly take a harder math class just to have another period with you and Lea.”

“Aire, I just think you’ve been going about your classes all wrong,” Yanaes shrugged.  “We don’t need a bunch of teachers telling us how smart we are, I know that as well as you.  I chose my classes so that I could do what I enjoy doing, and get good grades for doing it.  It’s that simple.  It’s not too late to transfer into some classes that focus on what you like.  Sure the whole performance part of school is dumb, but you don’t have to let it taint your whole school year.” 

“Gee, where did you get that little speech from?  Mom?  Sounds a bit too mature to have come from you.”  Aire couldn’t help but feel the words coming out of Yanaes mouth hadn’t exactly come from him at first.  

“I did give Yanaes a peptalk last year, actually.  To the best of my ability, at least.  Although it wasn’t about school.  Plate, El.”  Eleris, finished with her breakfast in record time, hurried upstairs to get dressed in her usual attire right after she handed Rerrarie her plate.

“I learned from the best,” Yanaes said as he gave the sisters' mother a wink.  “But the point is, you should do what you like all the time, even in school, which means taking classes that are tailored to your interests.  And you know, Modern Lit would be right up your alley, and I’d love to have another class with you.” 

“...I’ll think about it.”  Aire let the thought stew for a moment, but telling Yanaes ‘no’ outright always felt like kicking a dog.

“Anything I can do to further persuade you~?” he asked coyly.  Typical.  With a sigh, Aire just cut her eyes at him in a sharp glare shrouded by her glasses and her bangs, taking another bite of her pancakes as she entertained the thought of humoring him.  Although she would never admit it.  

“Don’t push your luck,” was her final response.  “I already have electives I’m fine with, and I’m not gonna go through the hassle of changing ‘em.  Thanks for the food, Mom.”  Aire handed her plate to Rerrarie, leaving Yanaes to sulk at the table as she headed upstairs.  Rerrarie chuckled as she took the empty seat next to Yanaes.

“You tried, Yan,” she spoke to him, her hand on his shoulder,  “Maybe, a little too hard.  Told you before, several times in fact, she finds that kinda pushiness a bit… unattractive.”

“Dammit…”.  Rerrarie rustled his soft, layered hair as he sighed, causing him to tilt his head to look up at her.  She was always gentle and supportive with him, if a little sarcastic at times.

“She’ll come around.  Don’t give up,” she encouraged him.  “Just remember, you can’t push her too hard, or she just pulls away.  She really cares about you, Yan.  She’s just not sure for herself if she has… you know, romantic feelings for you, okay?”  He looked up at Rerrarie before sitting up and hugging her.

“I know,” he said as he held her tight.  “Thanks, Mom.”  She hugged him back, patting his back before letting him go.

“Don’t mention it.”  She paused before sighing, taking up the empty plates and glasses that were left at the table.  “Now, go grab your backpack.  The girls are probably ready to head out.”  Judging by the sound of footsteps coming from upstairs, she was probably right.

“Yes, Mom!” he said with a bright smile.  “Thank you for breakfast, too, it was really good.”  The lamia quickly (albeit, gingerly) slithered up the stairs to grab his backpack from the sisters’ room.  Aire was waiting for him, already ready to go and holding his pack. 

“Gotcha covered, Yan.  We can’t have you getting comfortable barging into our room while we’re getting dressed, now can we?  Once was enough.”  The lamia laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

“That’s fair,” he conceded.  “Also, sorry.  Again.”  He reached out to receive his bag from Aire, but as she moved to hand it off to him, she held onto it for a moment.

“... And Yan?  I know what you’re doing, and that my mom is giving you advice.  Just… give me time to get past the whole ‘childhood friend’ thing, and we’ll go from there.  Fair?”  The lamia gazed into her eyes before giving her a calm, gentle smile.

“Fair.”

“Yeah, I still don’t see why that’s a bad thing.  But whatevs.”  Eleris teased her sister with a hug from behind, practically picking her up off her feet.  Yanaes smiled wide as he threw his arms around the sisters, Aire sandwiched helplessly between Yan and El.

“I’ll give you as much time as you want,” the lamia assured her.  “Just tell me when you need me to back off.  No lies, no secrets, remember?”  

Aire was silent for a long moment, looking Yanaes in the eyes before cutting them to the side, wrestling herself out from between them and heading for the stairs.  “...Yeah, yeah, I know.”  Eleris shook her head as she and Yanaes followed her down and out the front door.

The moment they were headed down the sidewalk, the sun was peeking over the walls and gave all of them a breathtaking view of the city skyline.  Yet, as developed as their district was, there were still swathes of sand between the streets and the surrounding marble canals, incorporating the natural landscape into the urban area.  Aire couldn’t help but fixate on the city sand, for just as how the lamia tried to preserve as much of their natural home as possible, Aire was still trying to figure out how to maintain her totally carefree relationship with Yanaes. 

Eleris waved in front of her face, jerking her sister out of what looked like some seriously intense thought.  “... Kyril to Aire, hellooo?  Let me guess… still trying to find a way around things changing between all of us?” 

“... Guh.  Kinda.  Change sucks.”  She put her hands behind her head, staring up into the clouds.  “... Just wish things could stay the same forever.  Or, well… ‘least a bit longer.  I miss things not being so freakin’ complicated.”

“Well, sure, change is scary, but not everything has to change,” Yanaes said as his hips swayed with his slither.  “I already know one thing that will never change, and it makes me happy every time I think about it.  I find strength in that.”  He practically danced as he said that.

“Oh yeah?  And what would that be?” Aire was honestly curious, not to mention skeptical.  He gave her a coy look with his bright copper eyes.

“Come on, you should know the answer to that.”  He seemed to be dancing to a song that only he could hear.  “You say things have gotten complicated, but the way I see it is that the only thing that’s changed between us is Lea dating El.  And sure, that was a big change, but it didn’t change how I feel about you both.  It still doesn’t.  El is still ‘El’, you are still ‘you’, and I am still ‘me’.  And as we get older and more things happen in our lives, we’ll change little by little, but the stuff we’ve been through, the history we share, that will never change.  As long as we still care about each other, then there’s no reason to be afraid of the changes in our relationships, because our actions will still be guided by the feelings we have for each other, romantic or otherwise.”  Yanaes held his arms out and twisted into a spin, his whole body curling like a corkscrew as he seemed to float on cloud nine.

Aire slowly glanced at Eleris.  It was slowly dawning on her that, in all the time she had known Yanaes, she had never truly known how deeply Yanaes felt for her and her sister.  Eleris only wore her usual wispy smile, offering her younger sister no help whatsoever on the matter.  Which was frankly par for the course.

Of course, they were lost in their own little world when they rounded the next corner, and a certain short figure collided with Yanaes.  He reached out and grabbed their hand, stopping them from falling backwards to the ground.  It was Lea, and he pulled her that little bit forward so that she could regain her balance.

“Oh, Lea.  Sorry ‘bout that, lil’ lady.”  The short blonde couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as the lamia put on his mother’s accent for kicks.

“Y-Yan…  Ummm, thank you.  For catching me,” she stammered as he still held her hand.

“Anytime, darlin’!”  He gave her a deep nod before finally letting go of her hand.  She hurried over to Eleris and jumped up to hug her.

“Okay, so what’s going on with him?” Lea asked, still processing his eccentric behavior.  Eleris just held her close, looked to Yanaes, and back down to her.

“Oh, Yan just professed his undying love for me and Aire.”

“Doesn’t he always do that?” she pointed out flatly.  “Sounds like a usual school day to me.”

Eleris just shrugged with her shoulders, smiling the entire time.  “He spelled it out this time.”  It was clear she was loving this a little too much.

“…And?”

Eleris just smiled at no one in particular as she walked, before looking down to Lea.  “And now Aire is finally starting to pay attention.”

“Oh.”  Lea finally conceded her surprise as she glanced over to Aire.  The girl-in-question’s eyes met Lea’s before quickly looking away, trying to hide her embarrassment.  It was clear that she was still processing what it all meant, at any rate.  “Soooo, what’s the plan, Aire?”  

“Yes, what IS the plan?”  A new voice nearly caused Aire and Lea to jump, as the skittering of dozens of chitinous feet reared up behind them.  The person they belonged to was perhaps one of the creepiest people any one of them knew.  “I couldn’t help overhearing something sickeningly heartfelt, so I had to see what lover boy was going on about.”  Yanaes playfully scoffed at the jeering voice.

“You know you miss it~.” 

“Oh, heya Revvet.”  Unfazed as usual and still holding Lea at that, Eleris turned around and pulled the centipede-like scolid into a big hug, one that she returned with a big smile.  Of all of them, she was closest to Aire’s sister, though she spared a wink for Yanaes all the same, to which he blew her a kiss.

Revvet was a large scolid who sported dark violet hair with a magenta streak through one of her bangs.  She wore a black blouse with a violet rose design etched onto the back, its lower half unbuttoned.  If lamia were like humans with a snake’s lower body, then scolids were the same concept, but with massive centipede-like bodies serving as their means of locomotion.  Jet black chitin covered her lower body, in sharp contrast to the pale skin of her human half and the red that showed through the gaps in her chitin plating.  To top off the whole unnerving package, where most centipede’s bodies would terminate in a pair of antennae, a scolid like Revvet sported a massive pair of flesh-shearing pincers. 

“Hey to you too, Elly.  So… what are you nerds doing out this early?”  She meant it playfully, but Aire could never really get comfortable around her, and it showed.

“Just… heading to school.  So El can eat breakfast with her girlfriend.  Second breakfast.  Whatever.”

“It’s called ‘brunch’, Aire, and it’s the third most important meal of the day,” the elder sister shot back.  A skittering sound was all that accompanied her movement as Revvet weaved from Eleris to Aire, practically looming an extra foot over her just because she was that much taller than the rest of them at rest.  Throughout elementary and middle school, the creepy scolid girl had always rubbed her the wrong way, and Yanaes knew it.  It was all affectionate teasing, and perhaps it was just Revvet trying to get to know her, but Aire always felt like she was being pushed around by her.  It always felt like she was about to be coerced into something when she was around.  Aire tensed as Revvet hovered over her, but the scolid felt a finger tickle her chin.  Yanaes was virtually silent as he slid up next to Revvet and caught her off guard.

“Hey now, don’t be mean to Aire.  I know you’re nicer than that.”  She simply glanced down at him.

“Oh, I’m not being mean.  Not my fault Aire is racist against scolids.”

“I-what?!”  Eleris laughed hard as Aire struggled to defend herself.  “That’s not fair!  You can accuse anyone of being racist if you use your physiology to intimidate them.”

“I dunno, ‘sounds like bias talking to me.”  Revvet spoke so offhandedly, that she broke Yanaes’s poker face with her sarcasm.  Clearly, she was taking the piss out of them on purpose.  “But nah.  I’m screwing with you.  You’re cute when you’re flustered.”  Aire blinked as heat gathered in her cheeks, and shook her head as she narrowed her green eyes at Revvet and her coy smile.

“Uh huh.  ‘Cute.’  Just keep all those different venoms or whatever you test on Yan to yourself.”

“But if she kept it all to herself, how will it get tested?”   Aire leveled her glare at the lamia next as he feigned innocence.

“He’s right, Aire,” Eleris spoke up.  “If Yan doesn’t test it, I can’t trust it to be safe for when I spice up my relationship with Lea.”

“Wait, you- what?!”  Aire narrowed her eyes at Revvet as Lea made angry girl noises and beat her fists against Eleris in absolute futility, while the girl in question just held her hands up sheepishly in surrender.

“The hell are you making with that poison magic anyways?  Sounds like you’ve moved up from bug bombing your house.” 

Revvet tapped her chin as she thought about it, counting out something with her other hand as she moved.  “Oh, let’s see… Paralytics, narcotics, hallucinogens, a substitute for alcohol, an amnestic-.”

“Amnestic?” Yanaes questioned.  “I don’t remember testing- ooooooh…”  She just patted him on the head, clearly enjoying the incredibly unnerved expression on Aire’s face.  “Was it fun?”  Revvet tilted her head at the question, thinking about it as she remembered how Yanaes forgot things he’d just said or done right after he’d done them for an entire day.  And how she’d nearly passed out laughing.

“Yes.”

“Dammit…” 

“As I was saying, an amnestic compound that makes you forget the previous day, a healing toxin that doubles as a weight loss drug...  Sad I can’t market that one, but it can burn someone out way too easily.  And… about, say, twenty or so iterations of an aphrodisiac that actually works on scolids.  Pretty effective on lamia, too.  Just got it to taste like grapes, even.”

“My favorite is the strawberry-flavored one,” Yanaes interjected.  As everyone laughed it up, Aire sighed and just focused on watching where she was walking.  She was always shy around Revvet, and Yanaes used to chalk that up as a combination of Revvet being his only ex to maintain a close friendship with him, as well as the scolid’s dour and blunt personality.  However, he couldn’t help but feel that there was more to it that day.  The rest of the walk was uneventful, though she seemed like she was powering through the rest of the way at that point.  He wanted to talk to her about it, but he also wanted to give Aire the chance to approach him on her terms.  He knew how much she struggled to communicate her thoughts.  

The high school loomed over them as they entered the front lobby, Eleris perking up as she held Lea’s hand.  “So, I had a fun idea.  I’m gonna grab my breakfast, and eat in our awesome new homeroom.”  

“... I’d like that.”  The small blonde squeezed her hand as she wore the most pining smile.  

Yanaes looked to Aire as his childhood friend hiked her backpack up higher on her shoulders.   “Right, right… guess we’ll wait for you in Miss Ranger’s room, come on, Yan.”

“Right behind you!  See you two in class!” he bade them as he hurried behind Aire.  She walked quickly, and while he had little trouble keeping up with her, Yanaes couldn’t help but find her pace worrisome.  “What’s the hurry, Aire?”  He tried to sound humorous, but his voice hid his apprehension poorly.  Of course, the skittering of numerous feet accompanied them.  As Aire turned to look over her shoulder and behind Yanaes, Revvet was still following them without a care in the world, as if she had nowhere better to be. 

“I’m not…”  She paused as she looked past him to the girl still tagging along with them.  “Rev.  Why are you following us?” 

“Oh, that.  I transferred to Elemental Studies after El texted me all about it, and your new …necromancer friend.  Fun, right?”

“Oh, rad!” Yanaes cheered.  Aire, on the other hand, became pale as a sheet as she turned and power-walked down the hallway.  Revvet reached a hand up to stop her, but let it fall as Aire strode her way into a bathroom, rather than just talk with her.  “...Did I really freak her out that much growing up?”

“Maybe,” the lamia conceded.  “Also, I kinda confessed my love for her this morning.  So that may have complicated things”

“‘Confessed’?” the scolid snorted.  “Did you also tell her the sky is blue?”

“Well, I spelled it out more than usual this time,” he said as he scratched the back of his head.  Revvet just rolled her eyes.

“What, she’s finally taking the hint?  What’s that got to do with me?”

“I’m not one-hundred percent sure,” he conceded.  “Might be because we dated in middle school, but I could be wrong about that.”

“So what?  You dated everyone in middle school.  Dumping you was practically its own speedrun category.”

“Well yeah, but you’re still friends with me,” the lamia pointed out.  Revvet crossed her arms and thought about it for a moment, huffing in frustration.

“You really think she’s stressing out over that?”

“Dunno,” he answered.  “She’s… pretty bad about expressing her thoughts, but I don’t want to ask her too hard because I really want to give her the chance to tell me.  Also, I kinda already played ‘No Lies, No Secrets’ this morning.  So that’s on cooldown.”

“Oh come on,” the scolid groaned.  “I thought that’s supposed to be a rule, not an ICD!  Why do you let her get away with that?”

“Because…”  The lamia faltered, struggling to articulate his thoughts.  “I don’t want to make her feel like I’m shaking her down for the truth every time I talk to her.  I want her to be able to tell me on her terms.  And that means trusting her to tell me when she’s comfortable.”

“Well don’t hold your breath on that,” she grumbled.  There was a brief silence between them before Revvet rubbed her arm and sighed.  “Yan, I can level with you, right?”  The question caught him off guard, but he gave her a warm smile and nodded.

“Of course you can.”  Yet, in spite of his swift and decisive answer, the scolid remained quiet before finally speaking up.

“…You and El have always been cool to me.  Like, super cool.  And I kinda always hoped that Aire would warm up to me, but… well, that never happened.  And I may have acted vindictively in the past.”  She paused again before sighing, looking him in the eye.  “Point is… do you think there is any way for me to patch things up with her?”

Yanaes’s expression scrunched at the question, rocking his head back and forth as he thought about his answer very carefully.  Naturally, Revvet became increasingly worried that his answer was ‘no’, but Yanaes eventually spoke up.

“Of course you can patch things up with her,” he told Revvet.  “But you’re gonna need to be patient with her.”  The scolid rolled her eyes with a sigh.

“Don’t know how much more patient with her I can be…” she grumbled, earning a stern look from the lamia.  “But I’ll try.”

“I know you can do it,” he encouraged her.  “But it might involve me testing fewer of your drugs.”  The scolid groaned in defeat.  

“But my Revved-up Venoms!  …T-Trademark pending.”  She rubbed her brow before letting loose an exasperated sigh.  She even thought of a name for her start up.

“Come on, Rev.  We’ve had a lot of fun with it, but if I’m gonna convince Aire how serious I am, I should really roll back our trial runs.  Especially the more… risqué stuff,” he noted as he scratched the back of his head.  “Plus… if you really wanna make a business out of this, you really need volunteer control groups and test groups.  You know these under-the-table tests would never fly with Food and Drug.”

“Fine.  Fine.  Gods, you two are such a pain in the ass,” Revvet barked.  “I dunno why I put myself through all the trouble.”

“Because you’re really nice.”  Revvet cut her eyes at his response, a glare undermined only slightly by the blush on her cheeks as Yanaes flattered her.

“Real talk; what has you so convinced that she’ll come around for either of us?”  The lamia simply smiled in the face of Revvet’s skepticism.

“Because I trust her.  She just needs to trust me, too.  That means giving her comfort, support, and time.  Whatever she wants of me, whenever, I’ll give it to her.”  All that said, the girl in front of him was slowly smirking as the girl behind him tapped him on the shoulder.  

“Ahem.”  Aire announced her presence loud and clear.  “Yan, has anyone ever told you you have a very… strange way of putting things?”  Without missing a beat, he turned to face her with a smile.

“You do.  All the time.  Feeling better?”

“... Sorta.  Got done a while ago,” Aire confessed.  “Rev was actually… keeping quiet about me being behind you.”

“I know,” Yanaes nodded as his forked tongue flitted out of his mouth.  “I could smell you close by.”

“Right, your sense of smell,” Aire acknowledged, her cheeks turning a touch pink.  “So, you knew I was behind you, and said that stuff knowing that I could hear you.”

“Yes and yes.”  The lamia’s smile remained fixed across his face.  He knew Aire was flustered by this, but he was nothing if not honest.  A small groan escaped her lips as she walked past both Yanaes and Revvet and began to head toward the classroom.  

“You know, your affection can be really… how do I put this in the nicest way possible?”  She hummed, thinking for a moment.

“‘Infectious’?” he offered. 

“Overwhelming,” she bemoaned.

“Oh, that is a nice way to put it,” Revvet nodded, shooting Yanaes a small grin.  The lamia simply shrugged, smiling widely.

“What can I say?  I'm replete with love.”  Aire rolled her eyes, wanting to get into their rather fantastical new classroom and put her head on the desk.  The lockers seemed to stream by as they walked down the hallway, along with the doors of more normal classrooms.  The moment they drew close to that empty space in the wall, though, that door shimmered into existence.  Revvet let out a low whistle, hands on her hips as the enchanted door replaced that section of wall.  Aire and Yanaes both stopped, and looked back and forth down the hallways before they even touched it though. 

And honestly?  That caught Revvet off guard.  “.... What are you two doing?” 

“If you know, you know.”  Yanaes placed his hand on his chest before adding, “A guy can only take so many sexy jumpscares in his life, you know?”  

“That’s one way to put it.”  Aire shook her head, finally convinced that Miss Rangers wasn’t going to appear out of thin air like she had last time.  A small wooden click came from the door as she opened it.  The room was much as it was the previous day, albeit darker.  The windows were covered by drapes that had been pulled back the previous day, and the holoprojector was on. 

“I’ll NEVER let you destroy the universe, Garlaxus!  I swear by my name as Magical Girl Rita!”  They had expected a few things when walking into that room early.  However, the latest episode of “Magical Girl Rita and the Ocean of Stars'' was …not one of them.  A brightly shining female protagonist clad in shimmering pink leapt into battle against an evil space emperor, but that wasn’t even the most amazing thing happening in the room right then, as they all silently watched what was unfolding in front of them.  Aire and Yanaes’s brains struggled to register what was going on in front of them. 

“HELL YES!  MESS HIM UP, RITA!”  The woman clad in loosely-fitting silk pajamas was unmistakably their teacher from the previous day, sitting cross-legged on a desk, a bowl of cereal in her lap, as her astounding mane of magenta hair twisted on its own behind her, melting into energy, while the rest of it messily framed the thick glasses adorning her face.  Perhaps it was how focused she’d been on her show, her breakfast cereal, or maybe even just her morning routine, but she glanced down, and saw the light from the doorway streaming into her room, her classroom, and she slowly turned and looked Aire, Yanaes, and Revvet in the eye. 

She then proceeded to spray a whole mouthful of cereal (milk included) across the floor, as she let out a positively earth-shattering spit take and coughed as milk ended up coming out of her nose as well.

“Huh.  So you do use magic for support when you wear that dress,” Yanaes commented.  “I can respect that.  Bras are a pain in the ass.”  Aire slowly turned to look at him before pinching the bridge of her nose.  Perhaps there was a shred of comfort knowing that some things will never change.  The red in Miss Ranger’ cheeks was priceless as she slowly covered her chest as if she wasn’t wearing a shirt in the first place.  

“H-Hi, Miss Rangers… sorry, so sorry about him.  He’s an idiot.”

“I prefer ‘idiot savant’,” he chimed in.  For some reason, Aire couldn’t help but feel embarrassment by proxy for her teacher, watching her wipe her nose and set the remainder of her cereal aside with her unoccupied hand.  It was such a startlingly different look, though, that she was still having a hard time believing that this was their teacher. 

“You’re… you’re here very early.  I, um… how did you..?”  Leera pushed her glasses up on her nose while staring out into the school’s hallway.  “Oh… wow.  I forgot to move my house from the roof again.  This is honestly really embarrassing.” 

Revvet looked her over, arms crossed as she glanced around the room, and back to her new homeroom teacher before remarking, “...that’s what you think is embarrassing here?  Really?”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it, teach,” the lamia shrugged.  “I’m sure other mages have done way more embarrassing things.  Like, uh… forgetting a rune for a transmutation.”

“Or exploding a cat out of a tree instead of levitating it,” Revvet added.  “Must happen all the time.”  

Leera just rubbed her temple, still flush and exhausted from all the embarrassment.  “No, no… that… no, just no.  Only the criminally negligent would perform accidents of that scale.  I’m merely… absentminded with how I juggle my hobbies.  Sometimes.”

“...‘Absentminded’,” Aire repeated.  “So, is relocating your house one of your hobbies, or…?” 

“That?  Oh, no, I just carry it around in my pocket in a state of stasis, and enlarge it wherever I want.  Honestly… I fell asleep after grading all of your presentations, and forgot I hadn’t exactly… moved my place.”  Honestly, it wasn’t hard to feel embarrassed for her by proxy, as she held her face in her hands.  That air of confidence from the other day was completely absent as well.

“Taking your house in and out of pocket space and resizing it on top of the school sounds like an awful lot of complicated work,” Yanaes posited.  “Wouldn’t it be easier to just connect the door to the classroom to a point in the school’s space from wherever your house is standing, and disconnect it when you’re done for the day?  Like with a time-sensitive spell.”  Leera was about to retort when she realized such a discerning question came from the bold lamia with alarming eyesight.  

“While I may be over-qualified to teach high school students, I’m not quite the master witch persona I put on, either.  Much of my time is still me experimenting, and figuring out new ways to tackle mundane problems.  Or, in this case…”  She paused and looked down, before standing up, and wiping her hand along her pajamas.  The silk seemed to shimmer and transform to the elegant outfit she’d worn the other day, the fabric transforming before their  astonished eyes as she brushed herself off.  “... I simply like to travel, and this method seemed a fun way to do so.  Renting an empty lot is far more cheap than buying a whole new home.  And it comes in handy.  And Yanaes, something you may find out about magic is that you can form routines and habits with it, just like any other talent.  What sounds like a lot of complicated work to you is a wave of my hand.”

“Awww, you remembered my name already.”

“You leave a strong impression,” she said with a honeyed tone.  Aire couldn’t help but wonder why Miss Rangers didn’t simply put her home on said empty lot, but she decided to hold her tongue.  “Now, what are you three impressionable kids doing in my classroom this early?  It’s more than an hour before classes even begin.”  Aire groaned internally while Yanaes let out a nervous little laugh. 

“You can ask my sister when she gets in-”  Almost perfectly on cue, Eleris and Lea both arrived with their food from the cafeteria.  Whatever they were talking about was cut off as Eleris seemed surprised that Miss Rangers was in so early, she and Lea slowly taking seats next to each other.  “... Here.  Yo El, you missed Miss Rangers in her pajamas cheering at Ocean of Stars.” 

“Oh dang.  Go, Rita.”

“I… urgh.  Eleris, was it?”  It was a bit much to deal with, but Leera shook it off and looked to the pink-haired moptop in question.  “Why are you and your friends here early?” 

“Oh.  I came to eat breakfast with my girlfriend.”  It was a simple answer, but the teacher’s eyes turned to Lea next.  The small blonde stood up straight as she swallowed, trying to give a slightly better explanation. 

“I live a decent distance away, so I have to take a subway to and from school.  The schedule makes it so I have to leave particularly early, or I’ll be late.  So, um… El and the others try to meet me here before classes start, if they can help it.  I-I mean, not ‘here’ here, just at school.  Yeah.”

“I see,” Leera mused.  “So what makes my classroom such an ideal alternative to the cafeteria?”  Even while standing a fair distance away, it felt like she was looming over the couple. 

It was Revvet that spoke up next, after just listening for so long.  Gesturing around the room with her arms outstretched, it was clear that she was just short of gushing about the combination of a lecture hall and library she’d walked into.  “Are you kidding?  Who wouldn’t want to eat breakfast here?  These flip out desks are huge, it’s cooler than the rest of the school, and the atmosphere is moody, with all the dimmed magical lighting.  If there was more black, it would definitely be my kinda space, but it’s pretty good as is with all the dark hardwood.”

“Look!  As flattering as your compliments are, I don’t appreciate my classroom being used as a dining hall,” their teacher vented.

“Couldn’t you magic the mess away with a wave of your hand?” Yanaes quipped, earning Leera’s glare.  “Hey, wanna finish that episode of ‘Ocean of Stars’?”

“Oh!  I’d be down with that,” Eleris seconded, beaming at Miss Rangers.  The flustered teacher looked between her two students before sighing in frustration, but the girl wasn’t done yet.  “If you have a hobby you like that much, why not establish a chill sorta anime club?  The school would probably okay it, seeing how short on clubs it actually is.”

Leera looked as though she was about to say something, but sat down, leaving them all silent for a moment.  It was clear she was considering it, but Yanaes and the others’ eyes glanced around the room as the lighting seemed to change, almost in response to what their teacher was thinking at the moment.  She was looking around the room, examining her own space, before the mage finally rested her hands on her desk, and cracked a half decent smile.  “Oh… why the hell not?  It’s not like I’m truly so against the idea.  Just… for the sake of my sanity, no more food in my room before class.”

“That’s fair,” Eleris nodded as she lifted an apple to her mouth and took a big bite out of it.  “…Just saying, bet you could magic up a way for your room to clean itself.”

“My room, my rules, my anime.  Now go take a seat before I send you to the principal’s office.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Lea blurted out as she grabbed Eleris by the hand and led her to their seats. “By the gods, you’re just as dense as Yan!”  Yanaes and Aire took their seats as well, with Revvet sitting behind them.

“Hey, Yan.  Thanks for grabbing aggro from me back there,” Revvet whispered, clearly not eager to make a bad impression on a new teacher before her first class had even started.

“Don’t sweat it,” he assured her.  “It helped that I cast ‘provoke’ at the start.  That, and El’s the greatest off-tank.  We got your back.”

“Come on, you can’t expect me to believe you planned that,” Aire said, leveling her doubt at the lamia.

“Nope.  But I saw an opportunity to draw her attention away from Revvet, so I took advantage of my previous mistake and made the save.  Besides, I’ll have plenty of chances to endear myself to Miss Rangers.  So, no big deal.”  Aire didn’t know whether to be impressed or annoyed.  Leera, on the other hand, had a different opinion on Yanaes’s small act of camaraderie, unable to stop herself from wearing a small smile.  

“Ahem.”  Leera cleared her throat as she fixed her round spectacles upon her face, the monitor’s remote floating next to her.  “If you’re all done speaking in earshot, let’s give this club thing a try, shall we?”  The lights dimmed, the screen lit up, and just for an hour more, no one had to worry about what the rest of the day held for them.