"You left me to worry about you for FOURTEEN HOURS? And you were taking a NAP?"
"I mean, kind of, the actual process lasted about forty-five minutes but the amount of recovery I needed afterward was long." Laura's rage no longer fazed me.
"You couldn't have sent Orin to tell us?!"
Orin appeared from behind me.
"Well his shadow was too small for me to come out, and he was laying on it."
Laura made a face that can only be interpreted as a butcher looking at a freshly bled cow, but Orin wrapped around her and exhaustion took care of the rest.
"Are you sure your fur doesn't have sleep-inducing effects? Cause she seemed pretty energetic about four seconds ago."
"I mean, it kinda does, the same way you would fall asleep in a bed more than the floor."
"I guess I'm still tired too." My armor became fluid and disappeared into the crystal ball that was disguised as an amulet as I laid next to her and similarly let exhaustion carry me to sleep.
--------
"So she just barges in and sleeps with him? What the-?"
"Shhh! They're adorable." Orin shut Devin's mouth with pressure.
Devin conjured a plant with vocal cords to talk for him.
"Don't you think it was a little overbearing of you and Spirit to 'matchmake' them? Spirit told me all about it when I hung out with him."
Orin released his pressure lock on Devin's mouth and the plant similarly withered. "Meh, they're quite the couple now aren't they."
"Maybe, but Laura seems suspicious, she is more interested in what he is making than him. I can tell she likes him, but there seems to be an ulterior motive too."
"So you're saying that this" he gestured to the couple in his fur "isn't going to last?"
"Not as I see it, just a little provocation, and that house of cards will topple."
"Hmm, best to rip off the bandaid if that's the case, what do you think Spirit?"
"I agree with Devin, it was probably a bad idea to rush a relationship, it's only lasted as long because they never speak to each other and Ingen isn't paying attention. Plus Ingen is an idiot with people." Ingen's mouth moved but the voice was Spirit's.
"With what you're saying, I realize that Laura has a puppy dog attachment to Ingen." Orin pondered, shifting his position almost enough to wake Laura.
"Either way, Devin, it's time for you to sleep, go back to your dorm."
"Too dark. Make me a bed in the study and I'll crash here."
--------
Devin was somehow the first one up and left before Laura and me.
"You two should break up," Orin said as I stared blankly at him through blurry eyes.
"What? Orin, I'm not dreaming am I? Aren't you part of 'Team Laura' or whatever?"
"Well, yeah, but as I see it, your relationship is kind of dying. Neither one of you pay any attention to the other unless you're doing a project together. When's the last time you went out?"
"I guess there was the time I flew you around." I turned to Laura.
"That was less of an outing and more of a horror story." She had woken up with me.
"I guess Orin is right, we really don't line up with each other. What do you think?" My armor started to form into the shape of my school uniform, and my normal clothes slid off as they were replaced.
"I think you are damn negligent, you pay attention only to your work, and you never have time for me, but I signed up for that, and I still like you."
'...' My mind was empty, I felt accepted for once, like another person had just taken my flaws and kissed them.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out, I couldn't speak. Then in sudden inspiration, through blushing blue cheeks, I declared: "I'm gonna be late to Dueling!" I took off, leaving my golems, companions, and problems behind me.
'You can't run forever, they will always catch you.'
'Shut up! You pushed me into a relationship with Laura anyway! It would be so much more simple if you had just minded your own goddamn business!'
I almost crashed, but regained control and continued to Dueling class.
After my daily belittling from Clara, I prepared for my next duel.
"This one you are allowed to know your opponent, and you will duel tomorrow. Today you will prepare with what you have and you can bring in any dull equipment you have from your dorm and you will be allowed to use any form of casting. Your opponent will be..." She looked at a card she had drawn "Devin of Reike."
"Ugh, why does it have to be him? I really don't need any more drama right now, I'm gonna just beat him and be done with it."
I suppressed Spirit as he had something to say.
********
I sat in the branches of a tree on the outskirts of the campus where no one knew where to find me and sorted my thoughts.
'I know that Laura doesn't fit into my life, but why should I break up with her just because of that? Both of us are going to have to join the military after school because it's mandatory, but who says that we end up in the same unit, or that we will even keep in touch.'
"Ugh! What do I do?!" My frustrated flailing almost knocked me out of the tree.
I sat for a long time, but eventually, I saw a mass of fur with a girl on his back approaching.
"When are you going to stop brooding and talk to me damnit!" Laura shouted
"Go away." My voice was a conflicted whimper.
"Do you really want to decide your future without all of its components? I heard you're up against Devin tomorrow, normally you would be in your lab devising some herbicide or something to defeat him! But instead, now your sitting in a tree complaining! GET IT TOGETHER DUMBASS!"
"Fine."