Into the World of Twisted Wonderland Pt 2

🐍 Schemer of the Scalding Sands: Chapter 24 🐍

Throughout the day, The five continued on with the training schedule set by Kalim. After the magic training, it was time for focusing on studies, in which Azul and Jade played an essential part with helping out students and Kalim, while Floyd was, as Jade said, the 'encouraging' part of the plan, with most students shaking in fear at the fact that Floyd was watching them do homework. Angel and Grim were no exception as they worked on their winter holiday homework, but Floyd kept distracting them, preferably Angel, wanting to bullying the other students for doing their homework. Of course, Jade reassured them it's one of his mood swings, and just went along with it. After lunch, it was physical training, with Floyd taking the lead and the students running laps around the dorm, and Kalim happily joined them while Jamil had a slight hesitation and joined them as well, with the three (Angel forced Grim to join in) watching their progress and giving advice when needed, helping the students out. Most of the students were grateful for the help, seeing that Kalim was in a great mood compared to the previous days and wasn't in his tyrannical mood not once throughout the day. There were even 30-minute breaks in between routines, which many students were grateful for since they didn't have to rush to the next segment or have to endure their housewarden's wrath for taking too long of a break, in which even Kalim gladly accepted, saying that break time is essential. When the group wasn't practicing, Kalim took the trio on a tour, with Jamil, Angel, and Grim joining them, showing them the treasury and other places they might have missed, not really being as surprised as they were the first time after seeing the treasury full of gold. Angel noticed that while they were in the treasury, Azul picked up a wooden board of sorts and was talking to Kalim, in which he was happy to explain the board, leaving her a bit confused at the bits and pieces of the conversation, but decided to follow Jade's advice and put faith in Azul. Many students were happy during dinnertime, chatting happily amongst themselves while talking with Kalim, who happily responded back to the conversations, and the four observed, enjoying the banquet with Azul talking to Kalim and Jamil while Jade and Floyd talked to the students, and Angel carefully watching Kalim and Jamil, trying to figure out the weird feeling she had. She noticed that the feeling went away for the day, seeing how happy Kalim was during the day, not feeling anything off about him, and sighs, thinking about the sudden change for the day. She sees that Jamil was quietly eating, taking in Azul's words, but she did notice something strange about him during the day, seeing that he was hesitating on certain training aspects and giving a bit of a stare, but other than that, it seemed like normal behavior that she noticed so far from him, mainly from Kalim's antics, but kept it in mind.

After dinner, the students took the five to a vacant room, opening the door and seeing that the room was a bit bigger than the previous room, maybe at the fact that it was accommodating 5, or in this case 4, people instead of 2, since there were two double beds and the same furniture scarcely places around the room. The students said their goodbyes and walked off, leaving the five in the room. "Huh," Grim says as he gets on a bed. "Kalim was in a pretty good mood today."

"Agreed," Azul states. "That was the 'regular' Kalim I know."

"When he's in a bad mood, he narrows his eyes and gets this scary tone when he talks," Grim says as he recollects his facial expression.

"He also glares a lot," Angel adds as she remembers his glares. "It feels like it's going through you."

Grim nods. "Yeah, it's scary stuff, I tell ya."

Jade thinks about the statement. "Are you certain that's what's happening here?" He asks.

"Whaddaya mean?" Floyd asks as he plops on a bed.

"You're prone to mood swings yourself, Floyd. Kalim doesn't give me that same impression," Jade states. "I suspect a different root cause at play."

"Jamil said it was brought on 'cause of their lousy dorm standings in Spelldrive and the exams," Grim explains.

"Really?" Floyd asks in disbelief. "Since when does Sea Otter care about that?"

"Sea what now?" Grim asks.

"He means Kalim," Jade explains. "Floyd likes to give people nicknames based on sea creatures. In your case, Grim, you have a cute, round, little silhouette, which is why he calls you Sealie. It's a term of endearment," he smiles.

"I ain't round!" Grim angrily says. "I'm full-bodied, thankyouverymuch!"

"For Angel here, your hair makes you look like you have tentacles, and your tiny and cute frame is covered by them, which is why he called you Little Jellyfishy, since there's another person with your features he calls Jellyfishy," Jade explains. Angel thinks about the explanation. More weird nicknames for me...

"Sea Otter's always bangin' on a drum with a grin on his face. Reminds me of those fuzzy sea scamps," Floyd says.

"He does have a generally sunny disposition," Azul states. "I can't imagine his demeanor would shift so drastically over something as minor as unimpressive grades. I agree that the root cause is likely to be something else entirely."

Angel thinks about the statement. "You know..." she speaks. "Everytime Kalim was in one of his bad moods, I felt that something was off about him. I couldn't exactly figure out what but it was a strange feeling."

"Then, if we want to get to the bottom of this, we'll need to get to know Kalim better." Azul looks to Jade. "Jade, would you mind having a little 'talk' with him?"

"Consider it done," he says with a smile. "Jamil would be a harder target, but...Kalim might be willing to 'talk' openly with me."

"Then I think I'll play with Sea Snake in the meantime," Floyd says with a smile.

"Excellent idea. I'll join you for that," Azul says with a smile.

"Heh heh heh..." The three chuckle while the duo watches them.

"Their smiles ain't reached their eyes once this whole time..." Grim whispers with paws crossed as they watch the trio smirk.

In Jamil's room, Jamil walks to the bed with a groan. "Ugh. Yet again, Kalim ignored my input and made an arbitrary decision," he says with a sigh. "Does he have any idea how much extra work that means for me? Rrrgh," he growls, closing his eyes to relax himself. "Well, he's asleep now. Surely the rest of tonight should go smoothly." A knock is heard on his door, making him look at it in confusion. "A visitor? At this hour?" He heads to the door and opens it, seeing Azul, Floyd, Grim and Angel giving him a smile.

"Good evening, Jamil," Azul greets.

"How's it hangin'?" Floyd asks.

"Mind if we drop in?" Grim happily asks.

"Sorry to disturb you this late," Angel says as they enter his room, with Jamil being shocked at the sudden visit.

"Gh! What do you want?" He asks the group with a glare, more specifically toward the Octavinelle duo.

"When Kalim gave us a tour of the treasury, we spotted a board game I've never seen before," Azul says. "I asked Kalim to explain the rules, but it's still not quite making sense to me."

"It's this wood board with little divots, and put gems in 'em or something?" Floyd describes as he holds the board out. "How's that work?"

Jamil looks at the board for a moment. "Ah, I recognize the board. That's a popular game in the Land of the Scalding Sands."

Azul pushes his glasses up. "As a member of the Board Game Club, I'm always looking to try new games. Would you care to play a round with me?"

"Aha ha, me too!" Floyd interjects. "I wanna see what you've got, Sea Snake."

"The great Grim never misses out on a competition!" Grim adds with a smirk.

Jamil thinks for a moment. "Kalim's gone to bed. I don't see why not," he says. "My dorm room doesn't have enough space for all of you, though. Let's play in the lounge."