CHPT 211: Prof. Grey

Ursula had hovered in a lazy state of true sleep and simple relaxation for a long while as the sunlight broke in through the window and warmed her exposed arms and face. The strokes of Isaac's pencil dragging artistic lines across his stiff beige sheet of paper in the distance acted as a repeated scratching rhythm with a cadence calming enough to send her back into a true state of sleep.

It would've, if not for the small whines and jumps of something heavy laying on her stomach. It came in abrupt bursts and disappeared in the same fashion. Nothing insane, but enough to pull her from her sleep.

So, when the next whimpering growl came, her eyes opened in a flash.

The brightness of the sun in her face made her early morning blurry vision even worse, causing the vague outline of a giant brown head to almost startle her.

Luckily, her vision steadied and the suns early intensity lessened with the raising of her arm, allowing her to accurately make out the sight of Frosty's sizable head on her stomach. At first, the frightening PitWolf looked peaceful— graceful even, with his distinctly wolven almond eyes and shimmering brown fur. But then, the muscles in his jaws and forehead would flex repeatedly from under his fur and his once sleeping eyes would flutter and reveal his frightful icy blue eyes beneath.

"Poor guy…." She thought as Isaac looked up, noticing her hand moving towards Frosty.

"Don't." The Knight announced.

"What?"

Isaac slid his pencil behind his ear before responding, "if an animal his having a nightmare, you're not supposed to touch them….especially an animal of Frosty's size and strength. You might mess around and lose your fingers."

Ursula suddenly felt scared to move with the PitWolf resting on her in the midst of a nightmare, now that she was focused on him, she could see his paper white fangs sticking out just enough to be terrifying.

"Erhm…that's..good to know." She replied to Isaac.

"Yea, luckily— using your voice to wake them isn't as dangerous." He said before calling Frosty's name a handful of times resulting in the PitWolf's bright eyes opening in a flash.

His stunned expression faded after his wet black nose went to work, taking in the smells of everyone until he was quickly reminded of where he was.

Following the PitWolf waking, the rest of the group did the same in a matter of ten minutes.

Warren was the first to wake, getting up in a flinging flash of fear after somehow mistaking Maris's foot resting on his face as a large spider.

In response, Maris was awake soon after, simply sitting with as much enthusiasm and life as an undead monster rising from a coffin and muttering a monotone backhanded apology that somehow made it sound like Warren was at fault for having his face under her foot.

The last to wake was Claude. Similarly to Frosty, his dreams must've been something firmly along the lines of unpleasant. Only, nobody called his name to wake him. Instead, he shot up on his own with his teeth bared and green sparks erupting in his dark eyes that glimmered like black diamonds. It would've gotten a rise out of them if not for the fact that he got up facing the wall and kept his eyes firmly on the floor with most of his hair covering his face.

Ursula was prepared to ask if he felt like talking about it but changed her mind after he turned and sat next to her with his back against the wall. He looked….staunchly determined, but also tired.

"Maybe next time." She thought.

***

After a few minutes, everyone was fully awake and talking. Despite the lighthearted vibe of the room, the looming presence of tension hung over them like an inescapable shadow. They all felt the very same feeling that stopped Isaac from going out to watch the sun rise only hours before. It lined their very being and showed itself in every movement they made.

Fear, tension, unease.

Fear shown in the visible globules of sweat trailing down Warren's dark skin and the way he hugged himself in an attempted self soothing manner. Fear shown in Ursula's tensed trap muscles and the raging cold front that emanated from her. Tension and unease shown in Maris's wandering eyes and need to hold two of Isaac's pencils as if they were dual blades.

Claude noticed it all. One of the few times his Racial Skill, (Body Language Comprehension), told him something in great detail he otherwise would have missed without it— maybe he wouldn't have with his Lupine sense of smell. But now with such a realization in mind, he felt the need to act. Arne's reminder of the benefits of fear and how quickly it could become a hindrance was screaming within his mind as he watched them.

"Too much fear…" He thought.

"[You need to soothe their nerves to some degree or they run the risk of being in even more danger than they already are.]" Arne replied.

Claude scoffed to himself, "What the hell do you want me to do? Give a speech?"

"[Id say yes…..but you tend to have a particular way with words that wouldn't allow that to work.]" Arne answered flatly.

Claude physically deflated at Arne's reminder of his lackluster social skills, "Thanks for that…brutal, honesty."

"[No no. Don't be disheartened by my comments, Claude. Rallying a group of like minded individuals to a degree strong enough to dictate emotion is a skill not even some of the best leaders have. If you can't talk their fear down— think of something else.]" Arne replied while the group chatted over by Isaac who drew with an intense level of focus.

Claude thought over Arne's words for a long while as the rest of the group continued to talk and display body language communicating fear. He thought so hard that their already distant conversation simply faded until there was nothing. Only him, his thoughts and Frosty.

***

"So guys….what's the schedule for today? I'm honestly fine with taste testing some more Sunlandian cuisine….or walking around—INSIDE, the Aslan Estate. Look, anything but going outside, please nobody ask to go outside." Warren asked, starting in a questioning tone and slowly descending into frantic blabbering.

He would've kept going if Ursula hadn't placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Alright relax, dude. We don't have to go outside. I say we keep reading. I don't know about you guys but I'm scared and learning more about the psycho scorpion monster that's hunting us will make me feel better for the moment until I'm able to chop it's head off."

Openly admitting her fear seemed to have a relaxing effect on the group who agreed with her words absolutely….most of them at least.

Maris flipped the pencils with her fingers at blinding speeds from under Isaac's desk before quickly assuming her dagger-like hold on them again, "We read enough. We fight too little. The reason your all scared of the H-HellBreeder is because we're weak— not dumb. Let's go find some monsters in the wild and remove their limbs….I'm sure there's enough Goblin's for us all."

Warren scooted away from her murmuring, "See, there you go with that psycho shit again….this is why we can't ever have nice conversations."

Isaac put down his paper and pencil, "More knowledge is always good. And going outside so soon after we've killed the HellBreeders….offspring is incredibly dangerous if we're doing this alone. More studies is a good idea….but I don't know if it's the best."

They all sat in silence for another few seconds until Ursula spoke.

"Well. We've all stated our opinions except you, Claude. Any suggestions?"

Claude quickly abandoned playing with Frosty who lay beside him to face them all for the first time. Having all their eyes on him left him uncomfortable and hindered his focus, but he'd been thinking about what Arne had told him and developed an idea.

"I'm with Maris."

"YOU WHAT?!" Warren cried.

"Well not exactly." Claude clarified. "I'm with her general idea of boosting our physical aspects instead of our mental. We can do both, but it's safest to train now. We can't afford to slack off on weekends like everyone else our age. We're being hunted— stalked, maybe at all hours. So, we have to stay ready. Physically and mentally….and I think I can help with that." By the time he caught his footing and the words flowed from his mouth, they were all focused and at attention.

"You want to be like….our Professor?" Maris asked with a confused tilt of her head.

He shook his head, causing his long hair to sway loosely around him, "No. Not exactly. I think I can teach you all something that could increase your firepower….quite literally for you Isaac."

"Oh yea. Now I'm interested." The Knight responded.

"I would like my firepower increased." Maris agreed.

"[Hmm….I see.]" Arne commented at the back of his mind.

"I can't get you guys an Acquired Skill. It doesn't start out incredible, but it has potential and the path towards unlocking it will hone your skill with Elemental Magic." Claude replied.

The two understanding the importance of Acquired Skills looked at him with astonishment while Maris and Warren stared plainly.

"How much do you train..?" Ursula asked.

"I train enough. And we're going to do the same. We'll be ready if it comes for us and we start with this."

"I'm down with that." Isaac agreed with a sly grin.

"We're going outside, aren't we?" Warren asked before Frosty's tongue sliding across his face interrupted him.

Everyone slowly stood up following Warren's questioning, no longer smelling entirely of fear to Claude, but also something else. Excitement.

"That's exactly where we're going."