Rising Shards

“Big Hoodies and Gay Stuff”

“How is rooming with Marmalade so far?” Oka asked. “I ask in a not jealous way. Kalei.”

“I told you I won’t make jokes about that anymore.” Kalei said. “And she’s into Tyrant Rangers so the gamer balance is finally excellent in the room. She has a lot of big hoodies, but I guess Zates does too.”

“Big hoodies are part of our culture.” I said.

“Marmalade said this one game is too, and those little robot toys that look like those Exumi guys," Kalei said, gesturing an approximation of holding a little robot toy. "And yet do I see you play either that game or with those little robot toys? No.”

“Not every trans person is the same…” I said.

“On the plus side, I think it’s cool you’re talking about your transness more.” Oka said. “I feel like you’re…I dunno, brighter about it lately!”

“I feel like my little coming out party helped.” I said. I did still feel pangs of guilt for what I was mentally calling my gender victory lap. I didn’t really forget I was trans, in my mind I was just so satisfied about my transition feeling complete that I didn’t say anything about it for a long while.

“Zeta…” Oka said.

“What?”

“You have that look like you’re feeling bad about it again,” Oka said. “Remember what I said? No more feeling bad about it.”

“I’m not like feeling bad,” I said. “I just get kinda weird sometimes.”

“Well, that’s what I’m here for.” Oka said, hugging me. “No more of that. If anyone says anything bad about how you do you, they’ll have to deal with me.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“It’s not like you didn’t talk about it before,” Kalei said. “But you do seem like. Cheerier about it now that you have another trans girl as a friend.”

“Now I’m like. Gayer and trans-er. And that makes me stronger.” I said, clenching my fists. “I’m gonna make the rest of this semester really gay for me. And you, too.” I held up my hand for Oka to high five.

“Zeta, this semester I am gonna do so much gay stuff with you and past that too!” Oka proclaimed as she smacked my hand.

“Oka, dude,” Dr. Diast said. “Like you do you, but that was really loud and we’re in class right now.”

“Sorry. Dr. Diast.” Oka said as most of the class started laughing. We were both very embarrassed but in a way that we were together in our embarrassment, which made it feel kinda sweet.

“Yet Another Assembly”

“So is this one where the Wildfire Hearts people are finally showing up?” Kalei asked as we sat down in the auditorium. 

“I assume this is about Wildfire Hearts people boning up the whole recreant deal.” Oka said. “At least, that’s the vibe I got from Berin.”

“So are we not going to do the Recreant Protocol? How are we gonna get Aira back then?” I asked.

“I’m sure it’ll still happen, just in an incredibly inane and poorly planned out way,” Lillia said.

Penteldtam, Kitty, and Berin took the stage.

“Um, so to start,” Berin said, scratching his head. “Good to see everyone here? Our representative from Wildfire Hearts has some things she’d like to say.”

“Ughhh,” Kitty said. “First up, I didn’t have anything to do with all those things the Wildfire kids wildfire did. You get me? I was only there for one of them! And I was trying to help stop the snatching folks!”

“Great apology,” Berin said.

“Agreed! Super work!” Penteldtam beamed, giving a double thumbs up.

“Right. So, because of the various incidents, Wildfire Hearts is on a bit of a time out now.” Berin said.

“I wanted a tournament so frickin’ bad.” Kitty said. “But I found out how trash you all are at fighting at the moment. And all the big-name students all pulled out of the games. So. Eh…”

“And I was really excited because this was me and Mantorvel’s big idea.” Penteldtam said. “And Mantorvel was so devastated he shouted for like thirty-seven minutes before leaving in his sports car to go burn off some steam.” He got out an empty can from his pocket so he could kick it around sadly.

“It was mostly because of the Wildfire Hearts incidents than anyone’s fighting ability,” Berin said. “Or anything to do with Mantorvel. So what does this mean for everyone?”

Caya rose from her seat and calmly approached the stage. The last assembly with Kitty and Penteldtam she stormed out, so she seemed to be in a bit of a better mood as she picked up a microphone.

“Greetings,” Caya said. “Officially, the Recreant Protocol is postponed. That said, there are some things that were in motion that we can’t easily go back on. For instance, the students that were raided had already begun the process to return to Rising Shards, as well as a few Wildfire Hearts students. They will now be attending classes here for the rest of the semester, so welcome them accordingly.”

Caya gestured to a small pocket of the audience that had a different uniform on that looked kind of like bathrobes from a distance. About half of them were rowdy and cheered for themselves, while the others sat quietly. I tried to see if Aira was among them, but they were too far away to see.

“Classes resume as normal,” Caya said. “Those of you with scholarships will have to complete your requirements now that the Recreant games are delayed.”

I had been purposefully putting the stuff I had to do for the Benta Scholarship aside for a while just after everything else going on in my life. Last I checked, I was pretty well caught up, so I hoped that wouldn’t be cause for concern. I was more worried about them dropping the Recreant games on us at a random date in the future, as I had already done plenty of worrying for that already.

“In the end—” Penteldtam started.

“No. Stop.” Berin said.

“In the end!” Penteldtam continued. “The important thing is that me and my main man Mantorvel’s vision for these here recreant whatevers is intact. And that’s the idea that maybe all of us at all these Cani schools can just…get along. Wouldn’t that be neat?”

The rowdy chunk of Wildfire Hearts students booed until Caya turned her glare onto them, silencing them pretty quickly.

“To the returning and new students from Wildfire Hearts,” Caya said. “If you do anything like what’s occurred over the semester, it will result in an instant expulsion. That goes for any Rising Shards students as well, but we’ve all seen who the aggressors are as of late. Focus on your finals, on class, on friendship, instead. There are many better ways to use your time than to cause strife. Thank you.”