Achronum

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Stark Hall - Floor Six
Skills: N/A
Costume: Double Trouble

“We're nukin’ t'e dickheads t'at ‘acked Beanie, duh! ‘ard ta be little assholes when you're a stain on t'e wall!” Danni cut in cheerily, even as he skipped outside, phone in hand. “Aw, Spicy! You look so adorable! T'ough, t'e accent makes you sound like Poisson-Pas and t'ats kinds off puttin’, you know? Could you imagine a mini-him runnin’ around, planting fuckin’ explosives and randomly flooding rooms in t'e same of survival?” Danni shivered at the thought, tempted to check the hallway for apocalyptic traps.

He surveyed the hallway critically, certain death already forgotten, as he thought about how the photo. Percy's refusal to play along really dampened the spirit of the whole thing and he was half tempted to demand just a She'ra photo but he could already hear Dee whining about it, so he supposed they'd just work him in just off the side so he wasn't too obviously against the grain. Though, maybe centering him would be better but Spicy barely tolerated attention; Danni couldn't imagine he'd sit still for more than 7 pictures while they got it just right.

“Yeeees, Mads you're rockin’ t'e look! Do you t'ink you can do like, a spell circle or whatevs it's called for t'e photo? It'd be so cool, you'd be so cool, like 10/10 would Magik again. 10/10 would trust wit’ my life!” Danni begged, as a perfect picture came to mind. He scrambled over to Dee, and waved at all of him. “Relaxed picture second - use him as an arm rest after you pose. Gotta do the Seahawk pose! Spicy, just cross your arms, be generally grumpy like always! No extra effort needed!”

“Course, gotta ‘ave Beanie front and center! Gotta ‘ave our She-ra in t'e middle, sword up ‘cause Beanie's a bad ass who ain't scared of no ‘acker.” Danni grabbed his tripod and camera, setting it up as he spoke. “Princess, you go between Beanie and Dee and Leah, you're on t'e other side of Beanie. And t'en Mads, spell circle next ta Leah and t'en I'll… Danni paused considering where he could go. It was unbalanced if it trailed off on Mads ‘cause they only had one past the center three versus two but he'd wanted to be with Princess and Dee but he'd written himself out of that combo there. Ugh. “We don't ‘ave a Catrs, so I'll skulk my way between Mads and Leah. T'en we can do cute photos! Yes, no, maybe so?”

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Gym - Training Room A
Skills: N/A
Costume: Double Trouble

Costume party, costume party, costume party! Danni couldn't barely hold himself together the whole day, unable to maintain interest in anything for long with the looming event. He fiddled with his social media, his cooking equipment, even clothes, and tried to research more about his dragon but his head just kept drifting to the party. They really needed to add a group contest for people like them that coordinated and did all this work to look good together - hero work was all about working as a team and what better way to promote comrades than through fun and fashion - but he'd have to settled for winning Savior of Avenger's Academy with one of them!

It had been a difficult decision for some - Princess couldn't make up her mind, which was fair since she was perfect for so many characters, but Danni knew which role he'd play instantly. Double Trouble fit him like a second skin, literally in this case. The longest part of the costume was makeup primer and body paint application, covering the upper part of his arms, neck, and face since thankfully the costume covered everything else because between the full skincare routine, primer, and then the heavy duty water resistant body paint, more would have taken waaaaaay too long for him to get it looking good. His focus, excited for this or not, would have been hella shot and then he'd probably start crying when it looked crappy and it'd ruin the whole vibe and they weren't doing that tonight.

Danni popped his head over Dee's shoulder when he popped open Beanie's live and even though it took him a minute to get caught up to speed, Danni let out a scandalized gasp. "Princess got 'acked?! Daaaaamn, good for t'at bitch! Means she's slayin' 'ard enough ta get noticed by t'e 'aters, ya know? Still, we gotta support our Beanie!" Danni announced, immediately firing off a supportive update on his own channels and tagging Beanie in them. "'aters gunna 'ate, but it's good Beanie caught it so quick. T'is could have been a hell of a fight if it 'appened at t'e party or somet'in', you know? Now say She-Ra everyone!" Danni positioned himself so he could snap a selfie with the pair of them in the background as they were getting ready.

He'd just finished putting his heels on when the door was opened, so he twirled with a bow as Princess, Dee, and he were revealed to their audience: Spicy, Mads, Beanie, and… Leah. Danni still had mixed feelings on that particular addition but he'd move on, he'd move on. Everything was great and awesome tonight. "Everyt'in' is goin' be great and awesome tonight! Danni shouted, affirming his defective thoughts. "Yeah, we're all ready Princess! If we hurry, we won't miss a t'in' but we gotta do a group selfie first and post it to support Beanie! Fuck t'ese 'ackin' 'aters! Now come on, come! Photo, photo, photo!"

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Gym - Training Room A
Skills: Pyrokinesis

"Awww but Spicy, we're your morons! You gotta love us!" Danni laughed as the fire ring opened, shutting behind him once he'd saunted through. He beamed at Sabine. "T'anks for lettin' me out, Beanie! Have I mentioned you look stunning yet? Cause damn, you are gorgeous." Danni turned his attention away from his bestie and scanned the field, the receding back of the Gobbler. It felt bad to kick a person while they're down, so instead he'd provide some support to Zelds!

"Ya know, we should 'ave a bestie date sometime soon. I know you and Princess and… Leah are like, 'oneymoonin' and shit and t'ats totally cool! But like, idk just you and me sometime soon?" Danni threw out there. Maybe it was a little inappropriate to discuss these things at a time like this, but fuck it. He was feelin' good about this fight - they had this in the bag. Danni's tongue poked out as he focused, bringing a finger gun up to point at "Em". "I got some new music we can freestyle to, or there's a new fashion runway show we can judge horrendously or another bridezilla one-I just love the drama, ya know?- or we can try somet'in' new. Bang!" Fire shot out of his fingers and slammed into the target, her clothes bursting into flames.

He spun, his right hand coming out to point at the spear guy, fire already at his finger tips, but he yelped as foot caught in a loose shoelace, and a grout of fire went spiraling out instead. While thankfully no one was hurt (Thank god because honestly, Spicy would probably kill him), his pride was injured as he groaned on the floor of the training room. "Just let t'em kill me." Danni whined into the ground, ears burning from embarrassment.

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Gym - Training Room A
Skills: Pyrokinesis

Stuck in a bubble, fire all around, Danni wasn't really certain what to do. He couldn't really leave the bubble and he didn't want to drop the fire in case someone broke through it but… what did he do now? They were just gonna wait out the timer or until the other team broke through and caused mayhem it seemed. Danni shrugged.

Seemed like a solid enough plan!

Well, now t'at we're all in 'ere, minus Dee whose probs waitin' ta wear someone like a skin puppet and Zelds-we gotta give 'er some props for da Golem after t'is- 'ow we gettin' out of dis? Everyone's kinda outta fire range right now so we're waitin', huh? I gotta say, not likin' the guy who is eatin' light. T'at seems like a bad time for us. You t'ink if he vomits, he'll just puke rainbows? Or maybe it comes out like a flash of light?" Danni wondered, envisioning it. "Do t'ey just open t'eir mouth and sparkles fly out? T'at'd be kinda cool, you know? Kinda wish I could pop out like you, Spicy. Wanna do somet'in' ta help Zelds. Beanie, can you change your bubble? Lock me and Spicy outside, while you stay in and poke 'oles in people's heads?"

Held Roll

Use HotShot skill to burn the feet of the first enemy to get past the barrier

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Gym - Training Room A
Skills: Pyrokinesis

The cemetery dissolved away and revealed the training room behind it. It was trippy as hell, Danni shaking his head as he tried to rearrange his head properly. He felt a little woozy as his memory sharpened again. They were in the middle of the Contest of Champion and his entire team had already jumped into action. What the hell was he doing?! Getting caught up in some sort of mind fuckery! No wonder Pops hates it.

Still, Danni had to get a move on it. Poisson-Pas may not have taught them much, but he was trying to teach them how to survive an apocalypse and rule number… whatever was control your environment! And in this case it meant fire. Lots and lots of fire! But with a no maiming rule in place-Danni was pretty certain setting people on fire would be considered maiming, right?-he was settling for a little crowd control. Like, no one wanted to be caught on fire so he'd just put a wall of fire up and his kick ass team mates could do the fighting while he concentrated on not burning anyone alive.

Yeah, team work!

Wait if everyone jumped into action, and he got ganked in the brain that meant… He panicked with that thought, ignoring the enemy for the moment and bolted for the hostage. Since Danni couldn't set up, they didn't have anything stopping the enemy from just sauntering over and grabbing the poor baby! He was just a kid who wanted to hang back with the fun team, it'd be so unfair for him!

Luckily, he got there as one of the so called "Heroes" did as well and Danni stuck his tongue out at them as he skidded to a stop. "Aight, bitches! Let's light t'is shit up." Danni cackled, entirely unaware he was slowed down and likely slurring. None of his team was near him so with a sweep of his arms, a burst of flames wove themselves into a roaring circle. Danni left out a whoop and did a little jig, proud of himself for getting the ring up without setting the hostage on fire!

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Danni paused in his happy dance, one leg raised and arms thrown out. Was that Spicy? Was he yelling at him? Was he yelling at the enemy? It… it was very hard to see past the fire and Danni realized that was… going to be a problem if the team needed his back up. Well, that was for another day l. For now, Danni would just cheer Spicy on as he screamed at whatever silly hero.

"Yeah Spicy! Tell t'ose awful 'eroes what's what! Kick t'eir butts, you can do it, yes you can! If Spicy can't do it, no one but t'e ot'er people outside t'e rin' of fire can!" Danni cheered as loudly as he could, pleased that he was able to at least provide emotional support.

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Gym - Training Room A
Skills: N/A

Danni woke up a whole hour before his alarm, wired and ready. The smile wouldn't leave his face, even when he knocked over a cup of coffee on his psych homework, even when he tripped over a sloppily tossed sleep shirt from the night before, even when he started choking on toothpaste when he spat. He felt like he'd slammed back six pots of espresso and an energy drink all in one; Danni's feet barely skimmed the ground and he couldn't help but violently shake Dee while screaming unintelligible, garbled nonsense in excitement at random intervals.

It was the qualifiers for the Contest of Champions! Them, in the Contest of Champions! Danni couldn't believe it - well, he could because they were awesome and they totally deserved to be in the Contest, but it was the vibe he was feeling right now. They were like, real Superhero students now, not ones on the sidelines. They'd win this whole contest and put the Young Avengers in their place 'cause Excelsior was a way cooler name than Young Avengers. Washed up copycats, blegh. Excelsior sounded so much cooler, newer, fresher and what villain could stand against aggressive modern branding?

Music pounded from their dorm, cranked up at 6:30am with the She-Ra theme song taking first pick. It was the cartoon that inspired them to superheroics after all, and what would the dawning of the Championship be without their… Danni lost that train of thought as he considered their opponents. They hadn't gotten anything useful on them - something about bugs bugging out or whatever, but he could just feel the determination oozing around the campus and he had to shake Dee again as his excitement overwhelmed him again.

Did it bother him that they had been practicing survival exercises over and over when they were going into a battle? Not really. They had a great team; Beanie there to keep things focused in her mean, sharp, cool way, Dee with his jokes and lighthearted way of helping, Spicy with his teleporting and his nasty little temper, and Zelds with… well, shy, timid, but creative brain juices. And of course, the diamond on the crown, Danni Kingston, the fashionable, loveable sharpshooter, heartthrob of the team and beloved by all of them, just like he loves them! They're the perfect team and no one can stop them!

Well, they weren't really the perfect team. The only thing undertone of disappointment was that it wasn't the perfect team. Princess would be fighting her own battle alone and without them. She was a kickass Warrior Princess so duh she didn't need them, but he wanted them all together. It's been the only real damper on the everything and for the briefest second, the room went blurry but a quick wipe of his eyes and a sip of coffee brought the mood back up. He whipped out his phone and shot off a morning text:

Dee,Princess group chat

Ayeeeeee, kick ass and take names today Princess! We're rooting for you, love you! Cuddle hour after?

---

Danni was ready. Dressed to kill and oozing confidence, he knew they had this on the bag. "Spicy, we don't need t'em ta tell us. All t'ey know 'ow ta do is fail. Danni smirked, responding to Spicy's dry comment. "They look so drab, maybe we can spice t'in's…" Danni trailed off as he looked at the yellow eyes girl, the soft humming sound a second thought as he blinked and found a familiar scene…

It was his favorite place back home. When the City that Care Forgot woke, she woke slowly with a heavy blanket of fog encouraging her children deeper into their blankets and bundles and it was that moment that Danni found his little nook a special place. Somewhere that, as the sun painted the sky pink and burned away the fog, he'd willing wake up early to hike to and just watch the sunrise. He'd chat with Lt. Colonel Whittnebane, or that was what he thought the faded inscription read, for a bit, keep them updated on his daily life and the weird events of the world. It was a special place, one that he didn't talk about much because it existed in that liminal space and any disturbance would break the magic. He liked his early morning dates with the Lt. Colonel.

Which was why, he was shocked when someone else was there. Danni thought it his place, carved out and waiting for him to discover it after time stole it away from the rest, and yet here stood... Danni felt a blush on his cheeks and in his ears as the most beautiful person in the world stood, staring at him. The soft crooning in the background faded away, meaningless as the brief feeling something was off, because she looked like she belonged there with him.

She just fit and it felt like something he'd been missing all his life clicked into place.

Yellow eyes caught his and he saw images of them weaving flowers in each other's hair on summer nights, the crackling of a bonfire miggling perfectly with their laughter. He felt her skin beneath his finger tips as their breaths mingled where they lay in their bed, the intimacy of secrets and confessions shared lulling them to sleep together. Danni knew in that moment that his soul mate found him and he was helpless as he approached, his heart pounding in his chest and butterflies in his stomach but a smile, soft and secret just for them, on his face.

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Avenger's Academy, Library
Skills: N/A

Madalyne Crane

Location: Avenger's Academy, Library
Skills: N/A
Grimoire: N/A

---

---

Danni skipped out of his dorm and right down the hall, basically right next door. Vicky's comment the other day brought up a good point - Danni really had no idea how to handle a dragon, let alone raise one. What if he'd already killed the poor baby? Maybe it didn't want to be snuggled up under a heat lamp, maybe it wanted to sit in a freezer or be buried like a turtle. He'd forgot Mads's offer in the chaos of their first day but he was here to take her up on it now.

Now, Danni wasn't really the studious type. Danni would even argue that libraries were his natural enemy. The silence was suffocating, the general stillness made his skin crawl, and the weird smell every library had made him nauseous, and it never failed to make Danni itch for a itsy, bitsy light show. So, it was for the greater good he went with a chaperone who he could bother and annoy instead of setting this on fire. Plus, he didn't want to be a dead beat dad! He need to know how to take care of his baby properly; neglect wasn't an option.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaads, open up, open up!" Danni sang as pounded loudly on the door, bouncing on his toes. "Wanna take ya up on your offer ta go ta t'e library for a Dummy's Guide ta Dragons!"

Madalyne sat in her dorm she was doing a little bit of light reading she was enjoying her day as she stopped and heard Danni’s voice from outside of her room. She had nearly forgotten that she had offered to help Danni with his new little baby dragon. She needed to return a few books anyway to as Madalyne made her way towards the door and grabbed the books that she was going to return.

She gave Danni a friendly smile as she opened the door and looked at him. “I was just about to head down to the library so lets go and get you hooked up with some dragon learning material.”

"Yaaaas! Lets get t'at lit!" Danni cheered, immediately winding an arm in hers and setting out. "So Vicky busted on in, nearly gave me a 'eart attack too 'cause Dee played a prank on 'er wit' some electrical doodads. You know, Dee always geeks over Vicky's stuff anyway but guess he wanted to be a shneaky shnake about it and I t'ought they got in a fight and Dee was unconscious but 'e wasn't but more importantly, Vicky asked 'bout the egg and I don't know up from down about takin' care of it so figured we could chill and read about it together!" Danni spoke animatedly, waving his free hand around with gusto as they walked.

"Plus, we 'aven't 'ad any 'angout time in aaaaages. Killin' two birds wit' one stone and all t'at! Oh, I'm so excited! You t'ink t'at it'll be easy ta take care of a dragon? Oh jeez, what if it's t'e size of a tree? Like t'e 'aunted tree! You know, t'e one t'e little child 'aunts here!" Danni paused a second as something in his head seemed to click and he practically vibrated as he walked. "OMG, Mads, Mads. Listen, listen. You 'ave magic, and magic people can like, talk ta ghosts and shit right? Can you ask t'e tree ghost it's name? I am dyin' ta know."

“We hangout all the time whenever you guys come over to my dorm to visit April you know. But it’s nice to just hang out the two of us actually.” Madalyne said with a slight laugh as she gently patted her friend on the shoulder as she led him down towards the library. "I’m sure Vicky loved it when Dorian decided to prank her or whatever.” She said as they got closer towards the library.

“Do you mean a seance or something?” She asked him, it really wasn’t that hard if you knew what you were doing, people without magic did them all the time anyway. “We could do that sometime if you want I just need to get some stuff for it.” She told him as they finally made it to the library now.

"Obvi, between just us! Hangin' wit' t'e group hits different, ya know?" Danni giggled as he pulled open the library door. It was rare that he came in here, group project partners nearly dragging him by the collar to get his help. The soaring, vaulted ceilings contained rows on rows on rows of shelves and his head just started spinning the second he tried to process it all he swore he was allergic, but most people just ignored him when he insisted he was allergic to the library. "Oooh, yes a seance! We should tots do t'at sometime! Get answers and spread t'em around ta see what craziness happens!" Danni smiled sheepishly at the few people who shushed him, forgetting to adjust his volume as they came in.

"Okay, dragons. Where can we find books on t'at?" Danni asked, looking around thoughtfully.

Madalyne smiled as she shook her head slightly at Danni’s antics as they entered the library some of the other students in there shushed him. “But yeah we can do that sometime i’ll need some stuff for it though.” She said as she entered the aisle that had the spot for magical creatures. “The books should be here in the magic section follow me.” She said as she made her way towards her usual spot where she spent a lot of her spare time in. “So you got a name for the little guy yet?” She asked as she started looking at some of the books.

"Oh, it's been 'ard settlin' on one! I t'ought 'bout Aggie 'cause t'e old witch gave 'im ta me, t'en I was like nah, it's not epic enough. So t'en I t'ought 'ydras are super intense and t'en I t'ought what about Kraken cause t'en I could be like "Release t'e Krakren!" And it would be my adorable baby chewing faces off!" Danni cackled as he inspected the books.

The only book he could find was beaten and battered, clearly having seen better days. Danni pouted as he pulled ot off the shelf. "Gross. What is t'is t'in'? Is it any good?" Danni flipped it open, scanning it. The information, something about another dimension, made his head spin and he quickly closed it. "Nope, not'in' good, just gross."

Madalyne looked at Danni as he managed to find a book that looked like it was in pretty rough shape, and it looked like the other dragon books were taken and checked out. “Here let me see it.” Madalyne said as she gently took the book that Danni had and looked it over. It looked like it was actually really useful. Her knowledge on dragons was good but this had more info than she could provide.

She then started to chant a spell quietly, since they were in the library she didn’t want to be loud at all really. The book started to slowly repair itself somewhat the book was still in rough shape but it was in better condition now, and it didn’t look like someone’s dog tried to eat it. "It’s the only book we have really, the others look like they are checked out.” She said to Danni as she handed it back to him.

"Aww, you're t"e best!" Danni cheered, throwing his arm over her shoulder. "Still, it doesn't seem like such a great book? It's like… a guide book from somewhere I don't know even exist? Mads, you're a magic person; do you know anyt'in' about dragons? Like, I know not everyone magic will but people wit' magic are probs gunna know more t'an someone wit'out it. I really just need ta know what temp it likes ta snooze in, how long it's gunna be before it 'atches, and if it needs like… 17.2 sheep or somet'in' once it does for food. Also, I gots ta figure out what kind of horde it's gunna want cause I'm gunna be t'e best dragon daddy and I need ta get a 'ead start!"

Madalyne gave Danni a smile as he wrapped an arm over her shoulder. “Well text books aren’t supposed to be all that interesting unlike fiction books.” She said teasingly as she started to think about her knowledge on dragons Agatha did do a small unit on them awhile back during her first year attending the academy. “From what I remember one species of dragon the European kinds their flames can melt reality.” She said with a slight shrug as she looked back at the book. “Thats about all I know, that book though does have a dimension you could go to and they’d give you more information about it than I could. Maybe they could even find out what kind of dragon yours is to.” She pointed out.

"Well, I mean sure, but like, 'ow do I do t'at in the middle of the semester, ya know? I don't t'ink dimension 'oppin' is as easy as openin' the library doors, right?" In any show he'd seen, it took enormous amounts of magical energy to open portals between dimensions and Danni def didn't have that! "Well, I'll check it out and see if Dee 'as any ideas. He does more wit' t'at kinda stuff."

Madalyne thought for a moment, she did have a class on other dimensions and stuff. “I can see about asking my Study of Ethereal Realms, Planes, and Dimensions teacher about it that should be helpful.” She said giving Danni a smile. “I think thats about all we can do at the moment though i’ll help whenever and wherever I can to.”

"Yes, tell me all t'e magical secrets! T'ough, do you t'ink t'ere is a magical creatures class on campus? Or like, a myt'ical biology class? I could just ask t'e prof t'ere about it, right?" Danni pondered, tapping the book on his chin. "Oh well, t'at's a question for anot'er time, anot'er day. Right now, we have a seance to play!" Danni cheered, wrapping his arm in hers and marching to checkout the book, all while chatting on about his theories for who the ghost haunting the tree is.

”I do have a cryptozoology course as well to so you could swing by sometime and ask the teacher about that as well to.” Madalyne said as she smiled and started to take out her phone as she started to make a list for the seance later for all the materials that they would need for it while they went to check out the book.

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

---

Location: Dorm
Skills: N/A

---

---

April was not good at confrontation. The only person she had ever really screamed at or fought with had been her sister, and that didn’t count. Everyone yelled at their siblings. But when it came to her best friends, and the radio silence she had received all day? Her confidence failed her. She thought about rushing into Dorian and Danni’s room, demanding answers… but the truth that they had gotten bored of her, that their friendship was over… And she was not ready to face that truth. There were a lot of truths she wasn’t ready to face - some of them deep inside of her.

So as she knocked on the door to their room, she wasn’t here for a fight - to express her feelings or anything. No, she was there with one of Danni’s hoodies. She had borrowed it from him last year, and it had ended up coming back to D.C. with her instead of New Orleans with him. This was just her returning it. It didn’t change the way she felt sick to her stomach, or the way she had a death grip on the fabric. ”Guys? I have Danni’s hoodie, I wanted to drop it off - you home?” April called out, before knocking on the door again.

What if they were ignoring her? What if they were avoiding her? She swallowed thickly, doing her best to breathe evenly.

Dorian heard the knock at their door. He hadn't been doing much of anything at the moment, bored out of his mind as the idea of getting to play Hookey had already lost its appeal. After all, it was hardly as much fun to get out of classes when everyone else was still stuck in them. It wasn't like he could whisk himself away to another country and enjoy the sights while the others studied hard on their first day. So as soon as he heard the knock on the door, he rushed over and swung it open with such force that the spring stopper began to rattle. "Ugh you're finally out of class. I t'ought it would be anot'er eternity until you were set free!"

Dorian hadn't noticed her soured mood, walking swiftly past April as he pushed her in from behind and closed the door. Using his foot to gingerly avoid the broken porcelain while slowly closing the door behind him. "We got t'e day off from school. Firestar wasn't 'appy at all wit' 'ow our first day went. Apparently it's bad form to blow up your students. Coffee?" He asked as he began to make his way over and pour himself his third cup of the day.

Danni frowned as Dee opened the door for April. The brewing ugliness in his chest had finally started to calm down - he'd convinced himself that she just needed some space, that she was upset about the situation, that she would respond before the end of the school day even though she knew how being ignored made him feel. And then she just waltzed right in without even so much as a sorry, or a crazy adventure to excuse herself with. Nope, just a hoodie to return, probably ready to flaunt in their faces how cool her team is, how much better she was without them.

"Yeah, Poisson-Pas tried tearin' us a new one wit' a little C4. T'en Beanie told us how much we all suck as a team, but always figured we'd 'ave a different set up. Kinda got off on a shitty foot wit' your sister when we tried ta convince Poisson-Pas ta swap her out wit' you, but guess we can't get far when you don't even wanna text us back." Danni could feel the prickle of tears at the corner of his eyes, so he didn't make eye contact with April. "Guess your 'appy wit' your team then, huh."

April had a death grip on the hoodie, as if letting go of it would cause her to collapse into a puddle. The coffee in Dorian’s cup froze solid, as did the rest of the coffee that hadn’t been poured out just yet. Any skin care products that were unlucky enough to be in the room as well would find themselves partially frozen, and a thin layer of water condensed on the windows. ”I-I… I didn’t get a text?” April stammered out. She could barely feel her hands. ”I must’ve missed it, I’m s-so sorry. Um. I’m glad you… you didn’t get blown up. Or die. I… I can get going now, then, I’m sorry, this is… this is weird and I… yeah, cool, great.” She then turned around and started for the door, completely forgetting to hand over the hoodie.

Dorian watched as the coffee in his mug froze solid, the steady stream of liquid gold solidifying right before his very eyes like one of those pranks toys meant to look like a spill. He looked between Danni and April, confusion clear in his face as neither of his best friends had mentioned they were in a sour mood with the other and now suddenly they were fighting around him. He placed his mug onto a counter, the pot still frozen to it as it floated in the air when placed down. "OK time out. What is goin on 'ere?" He said as he beat April to the door and leaned against it. If they were fighting they needed to hash it out now.

Danni rolled his eyes at April's theatrics. "What's goin' on 'ere is someone didn't care t'at we, t'e t'ree best friends who 'ave done nothin' but dream about winnin' the Contest of Champions toget'er, aren't toget'er and couldn't even bot'er ta respond ta her best friend's text w'en 'e told 'er 'e wasn't gunna take t'is shit lyin' down. Probably 'cause she was havin' too much fun wit' her new friends. New year, new 'er, and fuck Danni and Dee, even though we fuckin' missed 'er like 'ell over the summer, am I right?" Danni snapped sullenly.

She couldn’t help it as the tears started to fall. She couldn’t bear to turn her head to look at Danni. Each accusation felt like a lash. But April hadn’t received a text message - she was almost sure she hadn’t - but she felt like such a mess that she didn’t reach into her pocket to produce the phone. She didn’t feel capable of removing her death grip off of the hoodie. ”You both have been ignoring and avoiding me all day!” April finally cried out, feeling like she had removed a dagger’s blade from her heart.

”I-I didn’t get a single text the entire time, a-and if I missed it, I just said I was sorry! You tw-two get to do the dream together without me - you probably don’t even need me anymore. I’m the fucking third wheel. I-it’s like those shows when you see three characters and one of them is just cl-clearly not it and the other two want them to leave and I get it now, you two hate me, it makes sense. Why’d you even want a girl hanging around all the time? I-I’ll go, it’s fine, you can - you can invite Zelda over or something or the rest of your team and I bet you’ll do great and y-you’ll win and…” To be fair, April did have a tendency for over-dramatics. But she was feeling all of this deeply. And having Danni snap at her like this… it only fed into the thoughts she had, the thoughts that Danni and Dorian were done with her.

”I-I’m going to g-go, c-can you step aside?” she asked Dorian.

Dorian froze. It felt like what he imagined dial up was like. His brain couldn't compute with anything that was going on and the words quickly began to fade away into the background. This wasn't how they were supposed to act, none of this was in the script. Sure a few things went pear shaped earlier today but this was when it all got resolved right? The fighting just brought back harsh memories of when he was younger and hot tears began to form in the corner of his eyes. "What t'e 'ells are eit'er of you talkin' about?! I didn't send anyt'ing because you were in class all day and I didn't want to get you in trouble, and you…what?! he looked at Danni incredulously.

"Avoiding you?! I am t'e clingiest bitch in t'is group, and you think I'm avoidin' you?!" Danni jumped up from the bed, furious. "Your sister doesn't want shit ta do wit' us 'cause I demanded, in front of her, that we swap her for you! We told Poisson-Pas ta 'is face t'at 'e made a mistake on t'is dumb piece of shit. Danni waved the team letter around in April's face before setting it on fire in a calm, controlled burst. "And I texted, verbatim, "Don't worry Princess, we'll get us back toget'er". And t'en nothing. Does t'at sound like we 'ate you, 'cause it sure as fuck doesn't ta me! Miss me wit' t'is t'ird wheel shit - we text, call, and phone bomb your ass while we're apart. You don't get ta say t'at shit when we're t'e ones t'at stood up for t'e t'ree of us while you go fuck off with your new lays!"

April had turned around to look at Danni, and she flinched, as he waved the flaming paper around - even as a small part of her wanted to praise him for the control he was showing. But then, things got worse. Her eyes widened. She hadn’t told Dorian and Danni yet about making things formal with Leah - and Sabine. She wanted to tell them, of course, but it had basically just happened and she hadn’t had a chance yet. And it seemed like something that would need more than a text, especially when her replacement phone had a dinosaur of a keyboard, making individual words a pain to type out.

”I didn’t get a text!!!” April screamed, like it was a shield. She could hardly see, the tears were falling so fast. ”I didn’t get a fucking text from you!!” She said it like a prayer. ”A-and m-my lays??? I’m a fucking virgin, Danni, you KNOW that! And i-it like JUST happened with L-Leah and S-Sabine and you KNOW I would NEVER end our friendship or abandon you for s-s-some chicks!! I’m not the fucking devil! I’m not the villain!!”

Dorian just watched as the pair of them went at it. His head swiveling back and forth from one to the other as their screaming match had continued on. More and more he was being put back into the role he had played when his fathers had fought. His chest tightened, his heart quickened, and it felt like he was about to black out. The frozen coffee mug went flying off the shelf, slamming against a wall as it shattered and the pot fell harmlessly on his bed. The chairs screeched and groaned as they pulled closer towards him and the lights began to flicker from his oncoming panic attack. He couldn't speak, he couldn't say anything, he just slid down the door slowly, hands against his ears like a frightened child as he closed his eyes and sat on the floor.

Danni recoiled as if he'd been slapped, angry tears finally falling. "Beanie and Leah? What the fuck, I was talkin' about your team, not your relationship? What the 'ell, Princess. 'Ow t'e fuck are we just findin' t'is out now? I was gunna fight Beanie yesterday over you, now you're with 'er?" Danni's head was whirling. Beanie and Princess were like… secret, undercover lovers weren't they? He literally spoke with Beanie about this the other day, and then Princess was kissing Leah, and now all of them are together. How the fuck did that flow road go?! The temporary distraction faded quickly though, as he sidestepped a moving chair.

"Fine, you didn't get a text from us, sure. Then why didn't you text us, huh? Why didn't you stand up for us? I noticed you haven't mentioned anything about that. Or did you just-" Danni paused. Moving chair? He stared at it for just second before the flickering lights caught his attention. Danni looked at Dee, something mean and vicious and sharp on his tongue about why he wasn't upset too, when it died at the sight of him on the floor. Danni barely registered the thud of his knees hitting the floor as he wrapped around Dee as best he could.

"Oh no, oh fuck. No, no, no. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay, we're okay, everything okay." Danni rocked Dee, the argument with April already a distant thought.

”It happened, like, like last night! Like after we’d all talked! And I wanted to tell you all in person, so I was going to tell you now!” April sobbed. ”I didn’t stand up for you? What does that even mean? Stand up for you where? I-” she stopped, the words suddenly cut off. Danni wasn’t paying attention to her anymore - her rebuttals didn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter if she explained she hadn’t texted because they hadn’t texted her and it had terrified her, terrified her that they didn’t need her anymore, that they were always going to be a pair and she was just going to be an extra.

But Dorian was on the floor now, clearly in pain. The room had come to life, like a haunted mansion. And April couldn’t help but blame herself. It was her fault. She shouldn’t have come over here. She wanted to reach out to help Dorian, to soothe him and cuddle him, but she was afraid that Danni would snap at her if she did so. Instead, April lowered herself down, sitting back on her knees. She was still crying, but the tears were silent now. ”D-Dory?”

Dorian hadn't heard any of it. He'd blocked the noises out, muffling them as he sat there with his hands at his ears and his knees to his chest. He knew he wasn't the cause of this fight, yet he still was helpless. He couldn't prevent it, couldn't help. He could feel the vibrations of them yelling, like punches to his ribs. Then suddenly he felt pressure. Someone had wrapped their arms around him. His eyes shot open to see who it was, half expecting to see one of his fathers. His eyes a ghostly green as his powers continued to rage on. Tears fell down his cheek, though as they hit the floor they seemed to phase away.

"Please. Just…stop fighting. Stop yelling. Just…" He could feel his back wanting to give way. To have him melt into the doorway so he could escape this scene. He tried to relax himself but only ended up closing in tighter. His glowing green eyes looking towards his best friend's pleadingly as he felt the grip in his chest threaten more.

"We're done, we're done, we promise, don't we Princess? It's okay, don't cry. 'ush, Little 'auntling, don't say a word cause you probs wanna murder me for callin' you t'at." Danni sung off key, pulling at April's leg to get her into the cuddle pile. Why she was hesitating so long, he didn't know, but Dee needed love and affection damn it.

April bit her lip. She still felt incredibly upset. But she nodded anyways, as Danni asked her to. “Y-yeah, it’s all good, we’re totally fine!” April lied. The cognitive dissonance going on in her head was leaving her feeling untethered. She twitched slightly at Danni’s hand pulling on her leg, but she complied, putting her arms around Danni and Dorian, feeling like they had just put a blanket over a bomb in hopes that it wouldn’t explode.

The second he felt April's arm around him, Dorian launched himself towards his two best friends, tossing them both to the floor. He sobbed quietly with them in his arms as he pulled them in even tighter. "Can't we just solve t'is peacefully or wit' a pillow fight?" He said I between gasps for breath. He didn't care for confrontation, less so when there was yelling involved. "I don't know what you two are on about but I love you bot' so much I don't want to lose eit'er of you."

"We're not on about anyt'in', Little 'auntling. I just wanna know t'at Princess was fightin' for us ta be together like we did, but she isn't sayin' anyt'in' about t'at and just comin' in and sayin' t'at apparently we 'ate her even t'ough we chased her sister out tryin' ta get her in." Danni grumbled as he pinched Dee's cheek, avoiding looking at April. "Shoulda run off Spicy instead. Total prick."

She didn’t know what to say. Dorian was so clearly distressed about them fighting, and April was worried that anything she said back to Danni would just inflame the tensions again. She wanted to say that she didn’t even know how to fight for them to be together as a team - or that she had assumed the lack of texts from them meant that they didn’t even care. She hadn’t known anything about what was going on with Zelda - it vaguely occurred to her that she probably needed to check in on Zelda, or she was going to really get it from her parents’ if they found out. ”No one’s going anywhere, Dori,” April said soothingly. Her own tears had stopped, mostly because she had run out.

Dorian slowly let go of the pair, his eyes back to normal as a few remaining floating items fell down to the floor with a clatter. He looked past the wall where Percy's dorm was before looking back at the pair. He spoke through sniffles as he said "Percy's not all bad. Even Beanie said so. Doesn't help that I made 'im vomit and pass out on 'is first day after you lit 'im on fire." Maybe a lot of the animosity was their fault, between the attacks on Percy and bad mouthing Zelda to her face, it was no wonder the team was falling apart. "Poisson-Pas said we can't swap anyways. Where'd you even end up? We got a judges team but it's been radio silence from you all day. So spill, who'd you get stuck with?"

"Ugh, and Beanie didn't even want ta team up toget'er! I'm still kinda hurt by t'at. You t'ink she'd wanna stick with 'er friends, but I guess she did win by droppin' us, huh?" Danni sighed, resting his cheek on Dee's head as he talked. "Ugh, too much depresso, not 'nuff espresso. Yeah Princess, tell us who…" Danni trailed off. He really, really wanted to make a snarky comment. Like, really really. But damn, Dee just had a panic attack and honestly, he was such an ugly crier.

"Yeah, who uh… who are you paired with?"

April shifted uncomfortably. Dorian had seemed to calm down, but the tension was still palpable. ”I got put on Lady Nimue’s team - she’s… kinda intense?” April explained. Nimue was new to the Margaret Carter Institute, as she was replacing Agatha Harkness as the new magic instructor. ”It’s me and Mads, which is fine - and then this freshman, Mary Sue, I kinda know her as her parents are friends with my parents… And then there’s my… aunt, Andy… from my dad’s bio side,” April said. She looked away from the two of them. She didn’t think much of the weird nickname they had given to their coach. ”There was supposed to be another girl, I think, but she never showed.”

"Did she try to blow you up wit' C4 bombs too?" What was it with this year's batch of judges? Or were the judges teams always like this? Maybe this was why the Young Avengers were as good as they were, because they'd been facing actual life and death scenarios since Freshman year. He paused for a moment as something April said finally clicked in. "Wait, did you say retro-chic is your aunt? 'ow in t'e world does t'at work out? She's younger t'an you are…I t'ink?"

"Wait, wait, wait. You got stuck wit' Nimue? I 'eard from Aggie t'at Nimue was a Sinister clone! You gotta be careful, or Nimue's gunna do wierd experiments on ya. Get Beanie ta look into Nimue's 'ead; maybe she can give you a 'eads up on t'e plan!" Danni supplied helpfully. Apparently as long as Dee was sandwiched between them, he wouldn't get to pout at April for not sticking up for the trio and he was itching to tell her to pull out her phone, but they had to play nice. For now. "But speakin' of Beanie… got yourself a two'fer, 'uh? 'ow'd t'at come about? I'd only 'eard about Leah, and kinda maybe t'ough you were doin' somet'in' downlow with Beanie after pur first day back with how y'all were actin'!"

April’s eyes widened, as Dorian mentioned casually that their coach had tried to blow them up with C4. ”What? No! She did make us fight the questing beast from Arthurian legend, and Mothman, but not C4… Although I guess that’s probably worse?” Or maybe it was better? April couldn’t decide. Either way, it was reckless and dangerous. The coaches she had had before hadn’t done anything like it. ”A Sinister Clone?” April then repeated, completely shocked. ”I thought she was just, like, some sort of Arthurian legend sort of person - y’know, the sort of stuff that Captain Britain deals with…” She bit her lip, trying to think through anything Nimue had done that might seem sinister - which amounted to most of it, really.

”Umm, so like, I kissed Leah - and Leah had already started something with Sabine, so then I guess Sabine must’ve liked me or, like, not hated me or something? I don’t know. I def didn’t have anything on the downlow with Sabine. But now… well, it’s super new and I’m like not 100% sure of everything, but we’re testing it out, and I guess we’ll see if this triangle arrangement works out.” She was blushing deep red. This was all new territory to her. She was happy and excited, but scared and nervous at the same time.

"Wow, that's a lot of new stuff goin' on! Mothman sounds fun though… Do you t'ink Poisson-Pas will let us fight somet'in' cool, or do ya t'ink he'll just keep blowin' us up? I'd like ta do some fightin' rather t'an just survival exercises over and over but Poisson-Pas seems like 'e kinda wants us ta like, live or somet'in'." Danni spoke with false cheeriness, bad at keeping his emotions in check but trying so fucking hard for Dee when all he wanted to do was cry at the thought that Princess wasn't going to have time for them anymore. "And wow, when's the first date Princess? You guys got anyt'in' planned yet?"

"Ugh I 'ope so! I can 'andle beasts and Mot'man no problem. But a bomb?! What am I supposed to do wit' t'at?" Dorian said, a bit exasperated. Sure some heros had to deal with those kinds of threats, but he wasn't expecting to be one of those heros. That was more of a techies problem than his. He hadn't said anything about April's relationship yet. Still unsure of what to say in the first place. She managed to bag 2 people at once and he managed to make his cosmic love vomit in front of everyone. Great. "Oooo yeah when's t'e first date so we can wear fake mustaches and spy from t'e corner."

April nodded again - she was pretty nervous, mostly because all of this was so new and she was scared about messing things up. But she was happy and excited - the drama of the encounter with Danni was just continuing to stress her out, causing her mood to swing dangerously between extremes. The smile on her face was both genuine and a lie. “Um, not really? My phone’s kinda busted so texting has been really hard… I need to call my parents and ask for a new one,” April admitted. She pulled out her phone and flipped it open, pressing a bunch of buttons to navigate to a chat with Leah and Sabine. “I tried earlier and, well…” she showed it to the two. Most of April’s messages were complete gibberish, random letters and symbols without any meaning. “To be fair to me I was texting in class so I couldn’t look at the phone.”

Danni nodded along, biting a wobbling lip as his eyes started tearing up. So that's what happened. She started a new thing with Beanie and Leah and now Danni and Dee were second best. Texting her new besties and ignoring them. The ugly feeling in his chest grew heavier, sinking into his stomach, and he couldn't hold back a sniffle as he tried not to cry. Dee didn't want them fighting, Dee didn't want them fighting, Dee didn't want them fighting so he just had to learn to hold it in. Yeah, he could do that. Totally, 100 percent, no problem.

"Dang, yeah, gotta do t'at stat. 'ow you're workin' wit' t'at dinosaur is crazy." Danni laughed, ignoring the crack in his voice and pushing past the hurt in his chest. He disentangled himself from their little pile, scooching away from them. "Make sure ya keep us in t'e loop t'ough so we can plan 'angouts round your dates and all our practices."

Dorian didn't miss the crack in Danni's voice. Nor did he miss the way he moved himself apart from them. This whole situation was really hurting him, and neither of them would make the move to prove the other wrong. "Oh, if you 'ave a new phone you're goin' to need to a new wallpaper for it." He said with a half chuckle as he pulled out his phone. He opened up their group text, noticing the lack of message from Danni.

Instantly Dorian knew this wouldn't be good, but he also knew this would never be resolved unless it was shown. So instead he picked a photo from his gallery that had all three of them, a particular pic that depicted one of their happier moments together at AA from years passed. He hit send, both Danni and April's phones chirping to life as the image went through and more importantly, the chat would be shown where Danni had never sent his message.

April bit her lip, seeing the physical rejection from Danni, as he scooted away from them - and she caught the way his voice had cracked, the sniffles. They were both pretending to be okay, for Dorian’s sake. It probably wasn’t healthy. But April was fine with pretending - she pretended to be okay all the time. She pretended to be the perfect student, the perfect daughter, the perfect friend - the sort of person that could always be relied on, that was always there to help, never asking for anything in return. She did her best to give and give and never take.

Her clunky phone buzzed twice, as Dorian’s message came through. She had managed to get her phone number switched to this phone - which had taken about an hour or so to figure out, unfortunately. ”It’s loading,” April said, as she opened up the message. ”Might take it a while,” she admitted sheepishly. But on her phone, she could see the chat - the messages that were sent - and that Danni had never sent her one. The guilt and shame melted away - not all the way, but at least partially. She looked at her friend, not saying a word about it. She couldn’t find her voice.

Danni's phone went off, an upbeat song that he would let a call ring to the voice-mail just to dance to. It was awkwardly out of place and Danni fumbled it even though Dee had given them heads up; it took him a few seconds to open up the message. Even though he was upset, he still smiled at the photo - all three of them crowded together and smiling after… gosh, was it a test they'd all been stressy spaghettis over? Ugh, he didn't remember but he chuckled at how happy they all looked together. It was such a stark contrast to where they were now, this bundle of hurt, angry, soggy potatoes, and that thought slapped the smile off his face real quick.

Well, fine. If Princess wasn't going to admit she was wrong, he'd just prove her wrong now. He backed out of the picture, scrolled up to the message he'd sent, and… He frowned at what he saw though. There weren't any messages from today before this picture. Danni backed out of the chat and opened it again, scrolling it once more to see if anything had loaded. Still nothing, he scrolled up faster, checking each and everyone of his good morning texts that he sent every day, even when they were apart because he loved his friends and he wouldn't deny them the amazingness of his perfectly planned good mornings, but he still didn't find one from today. The date above the photo Dee sent sat there, irrefutable proof of one thing and one thing alone.

He fucked up.

And oh, did he fuck up big. He could feel his entire face heating up as the realization hit him, embarrassment making him want to crawl in a hole and die. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and he opened his mouth to speak, to apologize, to scream, to do anything but he could barely breathe, let alone speak. His vision swam and dark spots clustered around the edges of his vision, and his phone shook, his fingers aching and white.

What now? Scenarios flickered through his head, unbidden and unwelcome. April only staying friends with Dee, April ignoring him, getting a message in their chat saying she blocked him, April on dates and never telling Danni all about them. Years of friendship gone because he hadn't sent a text, because he hadn't double checked, because he… he fucked up. Something gross and unwelcome boiled in his, making him want to scrub his skin off his bones, set fire to himself and everything around him, anything to get rid of it and he wasn't sure what it was. It wasn't embarrassment - he'd been embarrassed before but a quick joke and a laugh made everyone move on. Now this was worse and he just wanted it to stop.

"I… I never sent… a t- text." Danni managed to croak out, he hesitantly looked up away from his phone, He couldn't bring himself to look Princess in the eye. "I coulda swore I did. I didn't even send a good mornin' text? I… I always send a good mornin' text. It's like my t'in' cause I always want ta talk ta y'all first every day. 'ow did I not send a text? We… we were walkin' ta trainin' and t'en before we went in, I wanted ta send y'all a text so we could all make t'em fix t'e mistake cause we were suppose ta be on a team toget'er. No one… can stop us if we were toget'er but I didn't send t'e text. 'ow did I forget ta send t'e text. It was important." Danni let his mouth run, not knowing what else to do.

"And t'en I… I… God, I'm so sorry!" Danni sobbed, all but launching himself at Apri with hugging intent. "I was scared and upset 'cause you said you didn't fight for us ta be toget'er but I never even sent ya anyt'in' and I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just… it sucked so much, I missed you so much, it was fun at t'e time even wit' a teacher blowin' us up but after I just felt empty since we weren't wit' you and I was angry and grumpy and I didn't double check and please don't leave me, please please please don't stop bein' my friend! I'm sorry!"

April’s body shook violently - not from fear or surprise or anything along those lines, but more as a release of tension and stress. She didn’t try to hold it together for Dorian’s sake anymore. The tears came readily, and her shaking arms wrapped around Danni, trembling as she could barely hold onto him. A part of her was relieved - she hadn’t missed a text from him, she hadn’t been the one to mess up here. But then another part of her was sad - he really hadn’t sent her anything. He had meant to though. The other thing though filled her with shame - she hadn’t texted them. She had been so consumed in her own inner monologue of morose sorrow that she hadn’t reached out to her best friends.

”I’m sorry too,” April mumbled into Danni’s neck. ”I-I should’ve reached out. I was just so sad and scared and thought you two… that you didn’t need me anymore. A-and that something must’ve changed over the summer o-or that maybe I did something wrong and I’m not good enough anymore to be your friend,” April admitted. ”L-like ten years from now you’d be off in the stars having adventures and shit and you’d go oh remember that girl from school, wh-what was her name, June? a-and I’d be in some shitty town like, I dunno, San Jose and I’d be alone and… Sorry I should stop rambling, I think I’m getting off topic anyways…”

Dorian wrapped his arms around both of them, squeezing them tightly. "We've all been so stressed about auditions and team placement of course somet'in's get forgotten at times. It doesn't mean any of us love any of t'e ot'ers any less. We need to see the positive 'ere! We each made a judges team!!! After t'ree years we did it!!" He squeezed them again before planting a kiss on each of their over dramatic cheeks.

Court of Nuhl

_{October 9th, 528 - 1:15am}

Safe House

Valafar offered Lyra an apologetic smile as the Commander tromoed his way to the cabin, waiving off the other's assistance. "I am stationed here short term at Headquarter's command. I'll be returning to run an operation I was relocated from." Valafar explained as diplomatically as possible. "A rescue mission this risky does call for some support, though it is the first time I've been stationed as a stand by rather than spearheading a team myself. However, it seems I'm entirely uncessary and isn't that great! You survive an Inquisitor's holding facility, rescued two of our own, and came out without a broken bone. A pretty successful first command, huh?"

Valafar's cheerful smile turned sharper. "So, how many of the bastards did you kill? On your way to catching up to me yet?"

The safe house was a cozy little thing as the Commander and company make their way inside. The old woman, drapped in comfortable shawls and nursing a cup of hot tea, rocked slowly on the front porch and watched Dylan with a still, unblinking stare. When she spoke, it came out crackling and dry like ancient parchemnt. "A mercy, blood spilt. A storm's fury brews, a mind sundered; no Life salvages such devestation." The woman croaked, nodding stiffly at the prone man. She spared a glance at the two following - Roan she overed a cursory inspection but there was a glint of recognition as she inspected Quinn, followed by a huff of laughter before she returned to her unblinking vigil, gaze carrying far beyond the edge of the woods around them.

Inside the sent of fresh bread and warm stew wafted around the rustic interior. Bowls, plateses, and utensils were piled up next to the stove, where a modest size pot sat covered and a loaf of bread sat on a wooden cutting block. A modest dining tallble sat in the center, under plants hanging to dry. A man in simple clothes, barely standing at 5'8, was washing his hands in a sink and turned to smile at the entering group.

"Welcome back and good job." He greeted them, laughter lines deepening as he offered a kind smile and nodded at one of two doors leading out of the kitchen. "Diana is in the living room for whoever needs to be cleared by a mind mage. Anyone who has an injury that needs tending, I'll be happy to help. Dinner finished just a bit ago so once you're healed up, you can grab a bite to eat." The man explained, patting his hands dry on a dish towel.

"We've got another outside. Helga thinks he's already dead. Fix up everyone else up and then check on 'im. If we can't piece him back together, we'll give him his last rites after sun rise." Agreve grumbled as he slumped into a chair. The life mage sighed and patted Agvere's shoulder. "Roan, mind mage now. So long as she clears you, you're good to return and we'll debrief once everyone has a decent meal in their bellies."

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

Danny Kingston

---

Location: Training Room B
Skills: N/A

The tension in Danni's shoulders grew tighter and tighter as more and more people entered his vicinity. Each person was another pair of eyes, each person another witness to how awful he felt and all he wanted to do was strip these rags off, scrub the skin off his bones, and wrapped himself back up again so he could feel like something other than the ugly piece of crap he was right now. Danni could admit he might be a teeny, tiny, itsy bit vain but your appearance was everything: people liked you when you were visually appealing. How much you talked, how loud you were, how often things blew up around you… just fell away when you were pretty enough to look at. It was like a get out of jail free card.

But gross, ugly, and disgusting like this put Danni on edge. He could feel the heat fizzing up under his skin, and he wrapped his arms around himself, squeezing like it would help hold it in. His discomfort was growing and he was around a lot of people that were… not so fireproof. "Yeah, uh, you know, t'at's probably a bad idea, Beanie. T'ink I'll just go over myself since Poisson-Pas doesn't wanna just nifty fifty and jimmy me over t'ere. On an entirely unrelated and not at all worrisome note, I s'ould be alone. Like, right now and definitely not near any skin, hair, or flammable valuables! So yes, bye, t'ank you for comin' ta my TED talk, or well Beanie's TED talk, and yet, great ide-" Danni bolted, his tolerance for people right now in absolute shambles as he fought burning humiliation and frustration and anxiety…

At least, he hoped that's what that feeling was.