Chapter Seventy-Two

“Now what do we do?” you ask Charlotte. You’ve been sitting in the shade of a few little trees, enjoying the way the light wibbles and wobbles across the floor for some time now. You expected Abigail and Daphne to come back, but it seems as if their whole courting thing is taking a lot longer than you had expected.

It’s alright. You’re very patient.

Super patient.

The mos--

“I wanna do stuff,” you say.

Charlotte peeks one eye open and looks at you. She’s leaning way back on her bench, arms folded behind her head in a pose that doesn’t really look all that comfy. “Oh? What sort of stuff?”

You shrug. “Abigail stuff?”

“Hrm,” Charlotte says. “Well... how about you wander over to the other girls in the club and chat with them? They seem nice enough.”

You could do that, you decide. You could even catch two birds with one tentacle if you convince them to join Abigail’s cult! It’s great. “Okay. Bye,” you say to Charlotte before bouncing off your bench.

Now, you just need to decide which girls to talk to.

There’s one couple under a tree off to the side. One looks very studious and is holding onto a big book and the other looks tough and rough, like she wants to pick a fight with someone. But the rough girl is blushing while the girl with the book reads her some things.

They don’t look like they want to meet you, so you look elsewhere.

At a table off to one end are three girls, all sitting on the same side. The girls on either end are hugging the girl in the middle whose face is very, very red. But they’re also glaring really hard at each other over the middle girl’s head.

You huff and look for someone else to talk with.

That’s when you spot the shipping sub-club girls. They’re all sitting off to one side, tittering at each other and making weird little noises like those squirrels you sometimes see running next to the roads.

They’ll do.

You walk over to the circle of five girls who all quiet down when they see you approaching. “Hi,’ you say. “I’m Dreamer. I’m bored.”

“So, are you Dreamer, or are you Bored?” One of the girls, the tallest in the group asks.

You consider this. “Yes.”

They laugh, and one of them pats a free spot on the bench next to her. “Come, sit, sit,” she says. There are three little benches arranged in a sort of triangle facing each other. You sit next to the girl with a plop.

“I like your dress,” One of the girls says. “It’s nice.”

“Yes,” you agree. It is a very nice dress. “I copied it myself.”

The girls make agreeable little noises, then they all share looks. “So, Dreamer,” one of them says as she pulls a notebook out from a bag. “Tell us... is there anyone you dream about?”

“I dream every dream,” you say.

The girl’s nose pinches up. “Ah, I meant more...” She leans forwards and all the other girls do the same. “Is there anyone you're really into?”

“I’ve been inside many people,” you say.

A few of the girls giggle, but notebook-girl just shakes her head. “No no, I mean, is there someone out there that’s really special to you? That you think about all the time? Who you’d want to spend the rest of your life with, and if you can’t do that, then you’re not sure what the point of living even is?”

Now the girls are sighing, but it’s a weird sigh.

“Um. Yes. That’s how I feel about Abigail,” you say.

Notebook girl’s eyes widen and she flips her book open to start scribbling something. “Tell us more.”

Well, if they insist.

“Abigail is the best. She’s fun, and nice, and gives me good pats.”

“Pats?” One of the girls asks.

“Physical Attention, Time, and Sensuality,” another whispers back.

“Oh. Well I for one wouldn’t mind getting patted, if you know what I mean.”

You ignore the exchange because it’s just mortals being weird.

Notebook girl finishes taking notes and looks up to you again. “So, does this Abigail know how you feel about her?” she asks. That shushes up all the other girls who look at you with bated breath.

“Yeah, of course. I told her a lot... I think. Next time we go to sleep together I’ll tell her some more if it makes her feel better.”

“Oh. Oh my,” Notebookgirl says.

Then the tall one takes the notebook out of her hand and goes around smacking all the girls on the head with it one at a time. “Look at her, you morons, she’s like... thirteen or so,” Tall girl says. She turns to you. “When you say sleep together, you just mean in the same bed, right?”

“Yeah,” you say. What else could you mean?

“And Abigail, she’s your bigger sister?”

“She’s my summoner,” you say.

Tall girl looks at the others with a weird look, it’s somewhere between smug and annoyed. “See. Get a hold of yourselves.”

This whole exchange is a little weird. You’re not sure if you want these girls in your Abigail cult. “I’m bored because Abigail is being courted by Daphne and the president lady didn’t want me to be there.”

“Ah, you poor thing,” Tall girl says. “I guess it’s normal that your summoner would pay you less attention now that she has a girlfriend.”

“Less attention?” you repeat.

The girls nod. “It’s normal. New couples are very lovey-dovey with each other.”

You stand up.

That doesn’t sound good. Not at all.

You think you might just do something about it.

***