Truvius's eyes widened when Káel came out with the suitcase trailing him, his voice dipping to a shocked whisper. "What is that?"
"A suitcase, it's like a bag with wheels," Káel said, but Truvius's awe didn't change.
He circled the object, looking at it from all angles and knocking on different parts of it. Finally, he noticed the zipper and pulled on it. Naturally, it went up with a loud zwoop, magnifying his awe as he ran the zipper up and down, watching it close and open with Phantom hovering over his shoulder. The man seeming to be just as captivated by the contraption.
Káel wasn't seeing an end to his fascination, and stopped him after the constant sound resurrected his headache, reluctantly agreeing to Truvius' suggestion in putting an illusion on it. As much as he hated his roommates perpetual state of being right, a metal box with wheels and plastic would definitely land him with a hoard of nosy classmates if left undisguised.
And so, after a few minutes of muttering and intense stares, Káel's bag had donned a lustrous sheen, flawlessly painted with the image of a giant wooden chest propped sideways on an iron hand truck. His relief died when the seemingly perfect disguise was rippled by Truvius' fingers as he gripped the handle, leaving him with a warning to keep it from unwarranted contact, and solidifying Truvius' claims when he called the art a "cheap illusion."
They were a quarter through the stairs, Truvius seizing up for the tenth time as the suitcase toppled down two steps with a rattling bump. Káel watched the ripples still, tossing his gaze over the rail to catch the group of acquaintances at the bottom. They had migrated to one of the doorless archways, indiscriminately chatting and blind to the two students attempting to sneak down the stairs. With this in mind, Káel snatched the bag from Truvius, swiftly descending the twirling path with a cascade of rickety bumps, Puff clinging to the bag in terror the entire way as it shook violently.
—————
"Delicate school supplies?"
Káel ignored the unconvinced ring to Leon's tone as Truvius continued to sell a knockoff lie. His skills of persuasion left much to be desired, but at least they were almost at the silver house entrance, the hand truck illusion undisturbed and decently convincing.
"I could kill a nomad with my analytics textbook," Leon replied, a weight pressing into Káel 's neck as Leon tossed his arm to rest over his shoulder and hang. The purple house student then assured Puff with a brotherly smile, pulling a nervous hiccup from Talli as she held the purring drake. "Not you though, you're my buddy."
Puff snorted.
Káel continued walking, despite Leon being attached to him, and the group rounded a corner to the familiar large room with the five emblemed doors. After a short struggle with keeping Leon from sneaking in behind them, Vera and Truvius oddly shared a sigh of relief, the two of them making sure the massive door had locked before locking gazes in confusion at their mirroring habits.
Truvius opened his mouth to speak his confusion at her relief, but Vera beat him to the gun.
"Nice illusion, it's a bit wobbly though." She poked the bag with a cocky smirk, allowing the ripples to pull everyone's attention.
Talli looked at the bag in awe, running her fingers across it and watching the image ripple and distort.
"Alright that's good," Truvius said with a nervous chuckle, skimming the barren lobby without a shred of ease. "Quit it or it'll break."
"Wh-Why'd you put an illusion on it?" Talli questioned, smiling with ignorant innocence as she sneaked in one last poke.
Everyone exchanged looks of realization, Talli was still oblivious to the fact that Káel was from Earth. Vera caught Truvius's glance and slowly shook her head. Talli was far too sweet to keep a secret for long.
"I was practising its durability," Truvius lied, his voice awkwardly deepening with an attempt to sound convincing. "Don't worry, it's a bag, I made the wood change colour, and tried to give his trunk a metallic look. Needs some work though."
"Woah, you're really good at it," Talli praised.
Truvius bowed his head courteously. "Why thank you. Anyways, we're gonna go drop this off."
Without so much as a farewell, Truvius snatched the bag and sped away with it, bouncing with a bit of impatience as Káel leisurely trailed behind with heavy steps. Sev wasn't thrilled with his shifty behaviour when they crossed paths at the stairs, but ultimately let it slide as goofing off when he saw the glare on Káel's face.
When they reached the room lined strip of hallway, Puff yipped with excitement, bounding to the very end where he faced their door and eagerly pawed it. As soon as Truvius swiped his card over then handle, Puff rammed the wooden blockade in, bolting to the closest bed, which happened to be Truvius's, and sprawling himself across all the pillows.
"Hey come on, other bed! Your fur makes me sneeze!" Truvius yelled, abandoning Káel's bag at the door and closing in on Puff to shoo him away.
Puff hissed at his provocateur, hugging one of the white bundles as a weak foundation while his fur tingled with a rumbling growl. Despite the miniscule size of the creature, Truvius though twice about ordering the fire spitting drake around and took a couple steps back in surrender. With a quiet apology he turned away to face Káel, who was already face down on his mattress.
"Wow, you Earthly people sleep a lot, how does your society even function?" Truvius said, seating himself on the corner of Káel's bed.
Káel remained as motionless as a log, a sharp smell of flowers gushing from the pillow he'd buried his face in. Puff jumped off of Truvius's bed and went over to Káel's head, nudging him with his pudgy snout and brushing his fluffy tail against his face.
Káel irritably swiped the dragon away, but after a quick pause he went right back to nudging.
"I think Mudbrain is hungry," Phantom cooed.
"Go away Mudbrain," Káel growled, grabbing the other pillow and placing it on his head.
"You hungry little guy?" Truvius said, rummaging through Káel's closet for the string of plump birds. He tossed one of the dusty grey pheasants over his head, the cold carcass landing on Káel's hand as Puff leapt onto the pillow to snatch his feast, rolling down the side and sticking his landing with all four paws spread flat for his belly to kiss the cold ground.
Puff scrabbled to his feet, the last of his fluffy white tail slipping under Káel's bed. And consequently reminding Truvius of the hoard of animal remains that had likely amassed there.
"I'll take that as a yes." Truvius pulled up the edge of the pillow to uncover Káel's ear. "You're probably hungry too."
Káel was, but he didn't want to get off his bed. So, in order to compensate his desires for food and not having to sacrifice the bed he'd warmed, he stretched out his arm as far as he could and grabbed his suitcase, awkwardly dragging it to his bedside.
Truvius watched curiously as Káel lifted the bag onto his bed and unzipped it, tearing a hole right through the illusion as it melted into the sheets. With silent exhaustion, he sprawled the contents out in front of him. Two halves, bound and chained by a single flimsy buckle strap, flaunted a rainbow of earthly nostalgia. A random scrapbook of everything Káel never thought he'd come to miss.
Káel released one of the sides, picking out the strange amount of socks and piling them into a mound beside him. He then pulled a sheathed sword out, jammed into the metal framing where a hole had been deliberately cut through the grey fleece. Being too tired to show concern, he tossed it at the foot of his closet and continued his search. A couple bottles of soda had been jammed into a pair of shoes and a rolled up shirt, but unfortunately, his throat was dry enough as it was.
After finding some catnip, two packs of gum, his charging cord - which failed to amuse him - a bottle of long forgotten cologne, and a pack of chips, he grabbed a chocolate bar and dubbed it the best sustenance.
Truvius watched in awe as he tore open the shiny package and bit the chocolate, Puff poking his head out from under the bed to inspect the loud crumpling noise.
"Is that food?" Truvius said, his mouth still hanging while he watched Káel chew the substance in engrossed silence.
"It's chocolate," Káel replied, breaking off a chunk and chucking it at him.
"Chocolate?" Truvius fumbled to catch the treat, holding the fractured slab up to appraise. "I've never seen chocolate like this. Are you sure it's real?"
Káel paused, stared at it, then shrugged. "Probably."
"Probably?"
Káel eyed Truvius without a response, and bit another chunk off his chocolate bar.
Truvius grimaced at the milky brown slab, tossing it in his mouth with a slow chew. His eyes widened, followed by a pained squint as his working lips tugged to a suppressed frown. When he finally got it down, he took a moment to get over the assault of sugar, and tried to revive his optimistic expression.
"It's a tad sweet... But other than that... It was pretty good," he replied, but his posture didn't exactly match up with his response.
"Ooooh sweet? Can I have a piece?" Phantom cooed, hovering over the chocolate bar with excitement.
Káel raised his eyebrows at Phantoms request, reminding his friend of his unsavoury situation that, after so much time, should have been naturally and constantly on his mind. Even if he wasn't in the rock, what was he going to do? Try and cram it through the mask he called his face?
Now that Káel was imagining it, he wanted to see the situation for himself, causing his mind to wander where he questioned if Phantom even ate... Or slept. All this thinking made him forget that he'd froze, watching Phantom with a huge grin.
But in Truvius's perspective, it was an empty wall.
"Káel?" Truvius slowly waved at him to catch his attention.
Káel snapped his attention to Truvius, blinking back the confusion with a mask of innocence. "Sorry... I was thinking about something."
Truvius looked at the wall with a worry. "Never mind, you should go back to bed..."
Just as Káel was about to listen to Truvius' advice, a set of grating nails scraped at their door, coming from the wrong side to be Puff. Truvius went straight for the disconcerting noise, Káel tailing his roommate to make sure the whack of a planet he lived in didn't do them in. With a slow clicked the door cracked open, and a pair of frosty blue eyes looked up at Káel from the floor.
The gasp lodged in his throat, his heart fluttering to pump out a fresh batch of energy and fuel his relief. One of his few pieces of home had returned, surviving the alien wilderness and learning there was no company like his. "Jay!"
"This your Guardian too?" Sev boomed, popping into view and snatching Jeremiah off the ground. "That door is polished winter tree, you'll freeze your butt off in the sandregian ice plains getting a new one. Doubt you got the sliv to replace it either, so keep this cute ball of fluff off the furniture." He suddenly registered Káel's face, eyes widening with realisation at the nomad harbouring student. "Thought you said you were keepin' the dragon, what're ya doin'? Tryin t' start a zoo in there?"
Sev tried to peer over the boys into their room, but Truvius closed the door to a narrow gap, and smiled nervously.
Káel shook his head, grabbing the petrified cat out of Sev's hulking embrace. "This is just my cat. The dragon's my Guardian."
"Don't get so sassy, I'm just pullin' yer leg!" Sev blasted out a laugh, the crippling volume causing Jeremiah to squeeze out his claws in fear. "It's fine to have two Guardians. Fire rule still stands though, and don't let yer kitty maul any woodwork, got it?"
"It's not my Guardian," Káel insisted.
"Well if it isn't your Guardian, we can't go havin' random animals wanderin' the dorm, too much of a cleanin' and housin' issue," Sev replied. "But I can take this ball of fluff off your hands until a family member comes to retrieve him if ya want."
"Fine, he's my Guardian." Káel growled, tossing Jeremiah through the narrow gap. Jeremiah gladly pranced up to his bed, but stopped when he noticed a white ball of fluff cautiously watching him.
"That's better, hate to enforce rules that cause me unnecessary work." His smile bit the dust as he noticed the gleaming sweat stuck to Káel's pasty forehead, the lanky student before him unintentionally swaying while he used the wall for support. "By the way, you ain't sick are ya? You're lookin' pretty dead to me, and I don't want it spreadin' like the plague. It does that a lot in places like this."
"He just used too much lumience," Truvius quickly replied.
"That's a relief." Sev smacked Káel on the shoulder, which he assumed was meant to be a light pat. "Get better soon newbie, missin' weekends suck."
The boys retreated into their room as soon as Sev left, but by that time, Jeremiah and Puff had gotten fight for the sealed container of catnip, messing up the contents of his suitcase with Jeremiah somehow beating Puff.
Káel pulled his suitcase full of brawling creatures to the side, and threw the gnawed up container of catnip in his closet. He was about to go to bed, until he saw the white edge of an envelope sticking out of a pile of socks Jeremiah was sitting on.
He carefully slid the object out, receiving a couple scratches, and looked at its unlabelled surface. He tore it open and removed a single sheet of paper, covered in black inky scrawls, but they looked too neat to be his uncle's.
Dear Nephew,
I'm sorry this couldn't reach you sooner, I didn't get the news until a couple days after your irksome disappearance. I can assure you the culprit will be swiftly dealt with.
Now that you're stuck here, feel free to request anything from me, and I'll make an attempt at fulfilling your wishes. Just give your letter to Jeremiah, and he'll deliver it like a good kitty. I am currently working on returning you to your proper home, so this small hiccup can be easily forgotten.
Also, you haven't lost your necklace have you? That thing was worth a shiny penny or two, so keep track of it. When Jeremiah is around he has been instructed to act as your Guardian, unless you have one already, which I doubt. If, for some reason, he doesn't feel like delivering any letters, you can talk to Sammy, I'm sure she can do something useful.
Anyways, I must return to my work now, all your fees have been paid so Samanthra shouldn't go asking for any more coin. I'm not going to tell you to enjoy yourself, because you probably hate this place already, but I will wish you the best. Farewell.
Sincerely, Staz
Káel slowly folded up the letter, the words running through his mind as he tried to pin his uncle's voice to them. The writing was wrong.
He glanced at Jeremiah, unease blooming in his stomach as a seed of caution came with his cat's return. But in his current state, even standing was a chore, let alone exploring the sinister labyrinth of secrets a blond stranger had somehow known to uncover.
With a heavy sigh he ignored Truvius' quizzical stare. Folding the letter up to toss on his night stand, and burrowing under the warm sheets of white.
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Quality Quip #3:
'Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.'
~ Thomas Hardy