Aayla hurriedly assembled the gremlins. She craftily took out a small bag of cookies.
"Can you help me? I have plenty of yum yum cookies right here~! The first cuties to find Daren Forolan, Chris Vear and Theodore Lawlor get the bag~! I need to talk with them about a mission from the big bosses."
\(*o*)/ -- YUM YUM COOKIE!! --
<(>.<)/? -- Cookie hooman, all hooman look the same? How to find? --
"Look for the sulky human that's always reading, the blond sneaky one and the one that's always helping around the office. Dormi can confirm if you find them."
\(>A<)>* -- OK! Will complete the mission cookie hooman! --
The gremlins quickly scrambled off. The best thing about being a resident advisor is having a personal army of tiny searchers ready to do your bidding. For an appropriate price.
Unfortunately, the gremlins were a bit too eager. As Aayla waited in the office, shouts echoed down the hallway. A wave of furballs swept through the office like a wave, carrying three miserable humans with it. Two were resigned to their fates, but one of them was feistily resisting.
"Put us down you little jerks! Ack! Just wait until I get down! I'll ban you all from sweets for a week! Ow! Stop that! No biting! What are you, toddlers?!"
<(^-^)> -- All done~. Brought the hoomans! --
m(*>A<*)m -- Done! Give cookies! --
\( > o < #)/ -- No! Hands off my cookies --
Before Aayla could react, the gremlins started to bicker and fight among themselves. Several jumped on her and tried to grab the bag of cookies. A window curtain shot towards the bag. In the blink of an eye, the bag of cookies soared out of the office and towards the stairs.
The gremlin tide receded, leaving the office a mess. They followed the bag of cookies down into the basement. Dormi firmly shut the entrance behind them. Those brats can sort out who gets paid on their own time. Hmph.
Aayla helped the guys off the floor. Kidnapping was not exactly what she had in mind. The gremlins had been so well behaved lately that their chaotic nature slipped her mind.
Daren calmly adjusted his ruffled clothes while Chris glared at Aayla.
"Oh, so you're sending the gremlins after us now? What the heck Aayla!"
"No. I would absolutely tell them to grab you two whenever you all are playing hooky, Daren and Chris. I wouldn't do that to Theo though. He actually does his work around here."
Theo snorted in laughter while Chris yelled in outrage. Daren continued to look as stoic as always.
"Anyways, I can't just sic the gremlins after y'all. Dormi wouldn't approve. Today I have business from the Student Council which might cause some trouble. I had the gremlins help find you so we could meet as soon as possible."
Aayla guided them into the back office and closed the door.
"A messenger arrived this morning. I had the privilege of talking with President Bennett and Disciplinary Chair Ahroyor. I'll be joining Daren and Chris on their investigation into the weird creatures showing up on campus lately."
"We don't have any bears for a rodeo Aayla, so I'm not sure how much help that you'll be."
"I'll be more help than you when you're on night watch tonight. Have fun wrangling the gremlins."
"Ack! Nonono! I have plans tonight! Mercy, mercy!"
"Hmph. You sure change your tune fast."
"Both of you need to stop fighting." Theo quickly separated the two. "Now, what's so tricky about the Student Council's mission that requires me to get involved?"
"Vanessa Landrienne."
The eyes of the young men lit up in realization. Ah, yes. The crazy stalker residing in the Women's Wing. The past few days have been very pleasant. Vanessa had been so quiet lately that they pushed her out of their minds. She won't stay quiet for long if she hears that a young lady has an excellent opportunity to work closely with Daren. That psycho would do anything to either get involved or ruin that opportunity.
Aayla turned towards Daren.
"When did you and Chris get assigned to the investigation? I thought that you were busy with work from Deputy Heston."
"We started a couple of weeks ago, but Chris hasn't had much luck finding and trapping the creatures. By the time that he gets to most of them, their already dead or gone."
"Hmm… Let's talk about how we want to investigate in general, then how we are going to handle Vanessa. Theo can leave at that time to prepare while we discuss the finer details."
Talks about the investigation went quickly. Aayla would walk around campus with Chris and Daren after they got the latest reports the next morning. If they found anything, then they would trap it and bring it to one of the animal facilities on campus.
On the other hand, the talks about Vanessa went poorly. They couldn't stop her from finding out about the investigation. They had no way to counter her stalking or subtle interference. Their best option was to keep the specific investigation activities a secret.
Aayla groaned in exasperation. "It's too bad we can't put a bell around her neck."
"What do you mean by putting a bell around her neck?" asked a puzzled Daren.
"Oh, it's from a fable that I heard in my childhood called 'The Bell and the Cat'. Basically, a group of mice decide to put a bell around the neck of a cat that's been terrorizing them lately."
"Hehe, that's a good idea. We could hear her coming from a mile away. Oh, I've got an excellent idea," Chris motioned for them to gather closely together.
"What's the plan?"
"We put a bell on that rabid cat, Theo," Chris's voice dropped to a whisper. "Aayla, how reliable are the gremlins?"
"They'll do anything reliably for treats. We just need enough of a high enough quality. Without treats, they are the opposite of reliable."
A devious grin flashed along his handsome face.
"What if, let's say, we bribe the gremlins to keep an eye on Vanessa and her lackeys? We can know exactly what they're up to."
"And Marc Lupton," Daren added. "That guy is sneaky and there's just something off about him."
Theo frowned and instantly shot down the idea.
"There's no way that Dormi will allow that. It infringes on a resident's privacy."
Aayla nodded. "Not to mention it's a really bad precedent to introduce to the gremlins. We don't want them snooping around to blackmail the residents. Also, they never leave the residence hall grounds."
Daren thought for a couple of moments.
"What if we simply expanded some of their jobs? Dormi has strict non-interference and privacy rules. Even if Vanessa is leaving, Dormi won't let us or the supervisor know unless it breaks a rule. Gremlins don't have that restriction.
"They already have chores around the house. We could add wellness or location checks to that. Vanessa has been harassing me and others. Official complaints have been made. She's also been getting crazier since she started at Nafriton. We can use those as an excuse for the gremlins to do wellness checks."
Theo happily nodded, but his smile soon turned into a frown.
"There aren't any complaints against Marc, so we can't use that excuse to track him."
"I really hate that guy." Chris angrily sneered. "He's a clever one, and keeps interfering with any surveillance that I try to put on The Butterflies. The gremlins will have to do for now."
**********
Marc Lupton sat in an elegant lounge surrounded by many young nobles. He dined with excellent table manners and happily hummed along with the music played by an unseen orchestra.
"I would like to humbly thank you all for your support of Lady Landrienne. Ms. Morvell's actions have greatly shocked her. I'll let her know of your well wishes. No one can ever replace who Ms. Morvell once was, but The Butterflies are always looking for new, like-minded friends. If you all would please excuse me, I need to attend my afternoon class."
The young nobles, especially the ladies, sent him off with an enthusiastic goodbye. Marc smirked after he left the lounge. They were clearly trying to get into his good books so they can ultimately replace Angela Morvell. However, he still loved the feeling of being fawned over.
The smile on his face brightened. His prestige and control among the conservative youths were slowly growing. Having seen Vanessa's stupidity and declining value, they were secretly abandoning her to work for him. That foolish girl has no idea that a tight leash has begun to form around her delicate neck.
A student hurriedly walked up to him and whispered in his ear. Aayla Glowery had joined the student investigation led by Daren Forolan with the explicit approval of the headmaster. Why was he only learning of this now?
Marc's smile faded as the student walked away. He'll have to keep this from Vanessa for now otherwise she'll explode and undo all of his recent progress. How could he best make use of this development?