Chapter IV.XXXV (4.35) - Drama Club

  “Welcome all to the first ever weekly meeting of the Drama Club!” Faible stood on a stage in front of them. His small stature towering over the small group sitting before him.

  Honestly, it was remarkable Faible had managed to assemble as many students as he had. Over a dozen students joining a newly formed club was unheard of. Half of them were from Hon and clearly interested in cozying up to Kizu.

  Stina, Ione, and Harumi weren’t a surprise. And it seemed Harumi had convinced a few of his first-year friends to join as well. While Aoi opted to not join, Basil had actually heard about the club and decided to attend the first meeting, though he unsurprisingly looked unnerved by Faible addressing them. Still, it wasn’t completely out of nowhere. Basil had a flair for the grandiose. His recent obstacle course commentary had publicly put that dramatic nature on full display.

  No. The one student’s presence that truly caught Kizu off guard was the smiling Akira. The prince attentively listened as Faible went over the club syllabus. Kizu had allowed Faible to use his presence as an incentive to join the club. While that brought several curious and opportunistic students over, the information being publicly advertised also attracted the attention of Akira. Kizu should have seen this coming. The prince had purposefully bombed his history examination to be placed in the same class as him. In hindsight it was obvious that he’d follow Kizu into the club.

  At least Akira had no way to get onto the Student Council. Surpassing Sene required exceptional skill and talent. And nobody at the academy came close to Kizu’s skill at brewing or Ione’s talent with summoning.

  “So, without further ado, how about we do some introductions?” Faible said. “Name, special interest, and a weird fact. I’ll start. I’m Faible. I grew up with actor parents and always have been drawn to the stage. And I actually have three of my toes webbed. My mother thought we might have a bit of selkie somewhere down our lineage. Far back in our genealogy."

  “Selkie? Like a mermaid?” Harumi asked.

  “Very different,” Ione said. “Selkies have seal skins they can put on and take off, transforming themselves a bit like a druid. Though it’s really kind of the opposite where the seal is more like their true form. Merfolk, on the other hand, are always themselves. Torso and head of a human, and the lower body of a fish. From the pelvis down. Selkies also can reproduce a lot easier with humanoids, since they fully transform. Merfolk usually have a harder time. Still possible, but tricky. They’re a weird mammal called a monotreme, so they lactate despite not giving live birth. A bit like a fish version of a platypus.”

  “Thanks for the clarification, Ione,” Faible said. He smiled in her direction. “How about you go next with introductions.”

  “My name is Ione. I’ll be helping out as a summoner. Creating creatures for the plays. I like monsters and summoning. I once accidentally swallowed a giant spider egg.”

  “That’s disgusting!” one of Harumi's friends squeaked. “Why was it in your mouth?”

  “Taste helps with summons,” Ione shrugged. “But yeah. Not worth the risk with that creature. It actually hatched in my stomach and came out in the chamberpot.”

  There was a moment of silence as the room digested that information.

  “I’m Kizu,” Kizu said, inserting himself. “I like spatial magic and am pretty good at brewing.” He quickly thought up some weird fact about himself. “My hair is green.”

  “That’s a terrible fact,” Basil said. “That’s just an obvious thing about you anyone can see at a glance.”

  “Yeah, Basil has a point,” Ione agreed. “Do better. Tell us something funny that happened to you.”

  “Um. One time I stepped in solidifying mud while gathering herbs and got stuck for two days? I had to eat bugs and bits of rotting fruit because my caretaker disappeared.”

  “That’s kind of just depressing embarrassing. Not funny embarrassing. And a bit of a retread of Ione’s bug eating fact,” Basil said. “But whatever. I’ll go next.”

  Kizu resisted the urge to inform them that the crone had found the entire situation hilarious. She’d laughed about it for a week straight. So it was funny to some people at least.

  “I’m Basil,” Basil said. “I am going to be helping with costume designs. I’m handy with a needle. And I owed Kizu a couple favors so I thought helping out here with all of you might convince him to stop bringing up our Enchanting C final from last semester.”

  Oh. That explained Basil’s presence here. While the way he presented that fact was a bit annoying, Kizu did appreciate that his friend was at least putting in some thought and effort.

  “Peons,” Stina said. She stood, her lanky height looming over them with her eyes obscured by jagged black bangs. “Kaga Kizu came to me and requested my aid. Benevolent as I am, I agreed to lend my assistance to this effort. After witnessing this gathering, I believe that we may achieve greatness. The opposition is powerful, I admit, though together we will triumph. It has been foreseen by the stars and oracles of old.”

  Stina sat back down.

  “Your name?” Faible asked.

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  Nothing. It seemed Stina had finished all she had to say and remained mute. The students looked to Kizu. It made sense. She had named him in her introduction.

  “Her name is Stina.”

  “A name to make our foes tremble in terror,” Stina added.

  “I don’t believe we have many foes,” Faible said. “But maybe this is a good time to talk about the end of the year presentation. Usually each club creates some sort of record of accomplishment for Parents’ Day at the end of this quarter. Parents and potential employers both stop by the academy to check on our achievements. If you need an opponent, we could all aim for the best presentation at the academy!”

  “And we’ll be performing a play?” Kizu guessed.

  “Jumping ahead of my scheduled topics, but yes!” Faible said. “I want to get through introductions first, then we can all work together on deciding a play.”

  Kizu listened as the next few students introduced themselves. Finally, it was Akira’s turn. The prince was the last one in the room to speak.

  “My name is Akira. I transferred this semester from Yamagako Academy. My uncle taught me wind magic. I was told the night of my birth a two headed fox died outside my door.”

  “Two heads?” Ione asked. “Was it magical? Do you remember the coloring or any other details?”

  Akira smiled and spread his hands. “Alas. I had barely learned how to open my eyes. My memory of the time is a bit hazy.”

  “I meant, what did people tell you about it?”

  “My family has an ancient history with foxes. It was assumed to be a bad omen.”

  “Well, now that we all know one another a bit better, how about we dive into some of the play options?” Faible reached behind him and pulled out a stack of books. He began passing them out. “Each of these plays is an option. I’m familiar enough with all of them that I can confidently direct anything you choose from this selection. But if any of you really want to perform a specific play outside of these options, you can discuss it with us in the meeting next week.”

  Kizu highly doubted that would happen. During their introductions Faible was the only one in the club to mention actually being passionate about performing. Most had just joined out of curiosity.

  “You have a preference?” one of the students asked Kizu. He squeezed in between Kizu and Ione. “I’ll help push for any play you’re interested in.”

  Curiosity…and political machinations. Kizu held back a sigh. Maybe there was a way to spin this so they all flocked over to Akira instead of him. He was an actual prince after all which made him far more important than somebody like Kizu. Most of the academy didn’t seem to have registered that fact yet.

  For now though Kizu simply nodded his thanks to the student and started reading the play Faible had handed him. It was a classic tale about a knight on an adventure to save a princess. The knight faced several dangerous opponents, including a sphinx.

  “Are these all true stories?” Kizu asked. “You mentioned before that gnomish culture uses plays as a means of recording history.”

  “Exactly so!” Faible perked up. “Some are dramatized for entertainment, but all the plays here are based on historical events.”

  “Mine is about a scandal between a gnome and a Kemon,” one of the first years said. “It involves kissing. Does that mean we have to kiss each other?”

  “Only if you want that specific role,” Faible said. “And we can always talk about cutting little things if they make you uncomfortable. I’m not a purest. History is always being altered by little details. Even first hand accounts of events will always be a bit flawed. Again, these aren’t perfect retellings. I don’t mind toning things back in minor ways.”

  “I didn’t mean it as a complaint,” the first year quickly clarified, blushing.

  “Mr. Artagnan. Would you like to clarify the conversation I just walked in on?”

  Everyone turned around. At the back of the room, with a frown on his face, stood Professor Krimpit.

  “Welcome, Professor!” Faible said cheerily. “We were talking about hypothetical kissing scenes written in the scripts. I was explaining that if they didn’t want to go through with that we could forgo that.”

  “If they wish to avoid osculation, then they need not choose that play. Or the role within that play. I approved and vetted each of the scripts in front of you. All remain absent of excessive fornication. I did not, however, approve of any changes to the scripts. You will run the play as is, or not at all.”

  “As our academic club advisor, it’s your decision. But could we maybe discuss it later after the club?” Faible asked.

  Oh no. Kizu wanted to shrivel away into nothingness. Krimpit was their club advisor? He quickly thought over his escape options. Could he get away without completely messing up Faible’s club? But…most of the people were here because of him. He couldn’t ethically abandon them to Krimpit.

  Right when he was trying to convince himself it probably wouldn’t be as bad as he feared, Krimpit walked forward and began examining the club members.

  “An interesting batch you’ve assembled.” Krimpit’s eyes lingered on Kizu. Then Ione. “Artagnan, I’m afraid nothing you can say to me will convince me to allow even the slightest deviation from the works I approved. Not with vocal revisionists among your ranks.”

  Kizu bristled. He wasn’t the revisionist in this scenario. Unlike Krimpit, he’d gotten information about history from the crone. Who, granted, wasn’t necessarily the most trustworthy educator. But she was someone who’d actually experienced the events. Not read about them from fifth hand accounts.

  He kept his rant silent. If he was in class or alone with the professor, that would be one thing. But this was his friend’s project. He didn’t want to trample Faible’s dreams with a temper tantrum.

  “I am trusting in Mr. Artagnan to guide you all as President of the Drama Club,” Professor Krimpit informed them. “I accepted this role as your advisor as a favor to him. However, I also oversee the library and have duties there. So I will not be overseeing you at all times.”

  Kizu let out a sigh of relief.

  “Consider this your one warning,” Krimpit continued. “If you cause problems, I will not hesitate to revoke this club’s status at the academy. Do you all understand?”

  There were silent nods.

  “Good. I will be checking in at intervals throughout your future meetings.” And with those final words, Professor Krimpit left the room.

  Gone was the jovial, joking attitude from earlier. All of Faible’s efforts to put them at ease by telling each other weird stories about one another had gone up in smoke.

  “Well, now you’ve all met Professor Krimpit,” Faible said, attempting to stay cheerful. “I’m going to send each of you a list of plays through your scrying orbs. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure and message me any questions. Next week we’ll officially choose the play to perform this semester!”

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