Rising Shards

“Lillia’s Pitch”

Lillia rolled a whiteboard out, readying to pitch something to keep us occupied with all our sads and school life business going on.

“Wait, you have a whiteboard?” Kalei asked.

“Every room in the dorms has one,” Lillia said. “Did you not check your closet?”

“I was there for two months and I didn’t notice.” Oka said. “Maybe they just forgot us.”

“Zates, we’re investigating this as soon as we’re back in our room,” Kalei said. “I have many uses for a whiteboard…”

“More pressingly!” Lillia said, making us all snap to attention. “I had an idea for something to do in our spare time when we are caught up with homework and aren’t in the mood for gaming. It won’t exactly help with any deeper issues, but it might give us all something to do to take our minds off of everything. I thought of it after the play was put on hold and have been brainstorming a bit. It may be something we can all chip in on, if we like.”

She wrote all our names on the top of the whiteboard.

“Theater practice is on hold,” Lillia said, writing that down on the board under her and Oka’s names. “And I have a desperate need to act in its absence. Zeta and Kalei, your club was also cut short, which was primarily a video making club." She wrote 'club' under our names and crossed it out. "Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“You want to do a two person play?” Oka said. “And have…Zeta and Kalei film it?”

“Not exactly,” Lillia said. “But you’re on the right track. I think if we combined the two, we could have an enjoyable hobby that would keep us occupied.”

“Us making a movie would be pretty sick,” Kalei said.

"Exactly!" Lillia said. "It would indeed be 'sick.'"

“Um!” I said, raising my hand. “Suggestion! If we did a show it could be like Tower of Hate and Love!”

“That could work as well,” Lillia said. “For now, I simply wanted to pitch the concept and gauge your interest. Next I would like a brainstorming session, but I would like you all to spend some time marinating with the idea, in case you have any qualms that come up.”

“Marinating…” Oka said. “That makes the idea sound delicious. And makes me hungry.”

Kalei’s stomach growled seconds later in agreement. “Yeah I’m down to stew over this, heh.”

“Zeta Pasta”

I was in the middle of an assignment when I noticed Kalei’s attention on me. I knew what she was angling for, as I had a bowl beneath my chair. But I was protecting that and its precious contents, and didn’t want her to press about it.

“You should draw the Echela ears pointier.” Kalei said, leaning over. “Look at the whiteboard, Diast drew em real pointy. You’ve actually seen an Echela, right?”

“Stop critiquing my art.” I said.

“Art is a bit much.”

“Fine, you draw the Echela since you know them so well.” I said.

“You don’t need to be that detailed, gang,” Diast said. “Like, as long as you get the gist of things that Cani get fangs and Echela get pointy ears. Generally. Then you’re good on part one of this assignment.”

“So are there Echela with pointy ears and fangs?" Iris asked.

"Or Cani with no fangs?” Kalei asked.

“There are absolutely Cani and Echela that exhibit signs of both traits, but like with a lot of things in life, historically speaking people like to sort things into easy binaries. But binaries suck. It’s best to just consider that every possible combo is out there somewhere.”

“Diast, I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m bored.” Kalei said.

“I got plenty I could have you do if you need something to hold your interest.” Diast said.

After Kalei got scolded into quietness for the rest of Diast’s class I thought I was safe, but when we got to Letoh’s class, she went back on the offensive.

“Psst. Zates.” Kalei whispered. “What’s with the bowl?”

“It’s nothing…” I whispered back.

“No, what is it?”

Maybe if I caved in, she’d leave me alone. “I…made pasta. For Oka.”

“Oh, give me some!”

“No! It’s for Oka!”

“Zeta, Kalei, can you two please keep it down?” Letoh asked.

For a few minutes, class resumed as normal. Kalei poked my chair with her foot.

“If you keep it between your feet like that, you’re gonna kick it over.” Kalei said. “And then all that pasta is gonna be on the gross carpet and Oka won’t get any.”

“How is that supposed to entice me to give you any?” I hissed.

“I dunno,” Kalei said. “That is a big-ass bowl though, no way Oka can finish all that. Plus, I need the carbs more for beam chasers.”

“Make your own then!”

“Where’d you make it, did they let you in the kitchen here or something?” Kalei asked.

“I…made it at home. Stella helped me.” I said. “I did most of the work though!”

“It’s gonna be cold when you give it to her if you’re just carrying it around,” Kalei said. “But I don’t mind cold pasta.”

“I’m gonna heat it up before I give it to her!” I said.

“Why are you carrying it around all day?” Kalei said.

“I want to protect it,” I said. “And I want to give it to Oka at lunch. I want her to be the first to taste it besides me.”

“Dude, let me taste test.” Kalei said.

“I tasted it already! I think it’s pretty good.” I said.

“If you let me taste it, I’ll be brutally honest and tell you if it sucks and then you can spare your girlfriend your bad cooking. And then if it’s good, I get some pasta, Oka gets some pasta, we all win!”

 Somehow the debate went all the way to lunch, where after heating up my pasta (with the help of Lillia, who offered to use her fire powers for a second rather than have me microwave them), Kalei cornered me.

“Alright, fine,” I said, handing her a fork and holding the bowl out to her. “One bite.”

“You’re the best!” Kalei said. I got the kind of pasta that was like the big tube noodles, so one bite was only about three of those.

“How is it?” I asked as Kalei finally got the pasta. “Alright, actually be brutally honest, I can take it. Or not. Maybe I can’t.”

“It’s really good!” Kalei said. “It’s so garlic-y, ahhhhh…can I have some more?”

“You can have the leftovers.” I said.

“Sweet, you rule.” Kalei said.