Fuzzy, Sasha and Julie - August 24th – Friday Afternoon – Blake Island

There were no classes scheduled for Fuzzy for the next week. Some few students still struggled to learn spells into week two, which was miserable for students and teachers both. A small percentage of students who'd finished worked on their own project, but most of them were gone. The adepts had their own classes that had never ended. Fuzzy had been invited to join to learn about her own magic, but she'd declined. Between her early morning hunting expeditions and full days of learning how to read, she'd been busy.

And since she was so busy that it'd been easy to rationalize not going to the lunch tables to grab something to eat. Lunch tables where Sasha might be. So instead she grabbed a quick bite in the morning or she took her meals home with her because she'd realized that learning how to read in public was something that others had looked down on her for.

Monday flew by and that night she got word back from Kenji, who'd taken a "personal day", which meant getting out of school, that Clever was very interested in buying the best cuts of meat. Kenji had even brought back a small, standing freezer for her first four kills which was good because she stuck her kills inside as she would each day until selling them all on Sunday. And so she counted down the days until September when hunting season would come.

On Tuesday, Marco came by to help her practice and on Wednesday and Thursday, Julian came as well, though this was later in the evenings. He was done with teaching spells to his group of students but he was still busy lesson planning during the day for the upcoming semester. There were plans to hire a permanent tutor for her, but that would take time due to all of that "red tape" she kept hearing about.

Fuzzy had been told that she should only put in four hours maximum learning how to read a day, she pushed even harder. Three hours early in the morning to hunt and six or seven hours focusing on how to read. After all, she had nothing but time and she had Marco and Julian to help her out.

By after her morning hunt on Friday, her skill and diligence had paid off. She had fourteen frozen pheasants ready to be sold. Since she'd was making such quick progress on her studies, Julian allowed her to hunt on every day for this week only as half the student body was gone, though she had to be done before breakfast began. So she hadn't gotten her limit of four kills every day, but she'd been close. And since she was putting in all of those hours, she'd reached the end of the first grade module that Thursday.

So she had her work, her studies and her new healing spell which she'd used a handful of times while traipsing through the woods. She'd been successful in healing her cuts a whopping one out of four times, which was apparently really good for a beginner according to Julian. Mostly she could only make her hand glow with a soft, white light.

But while she had been making leaps and bounds when it came to hunting and reading, she had neglected Kenji's advice/warning to either start dating Sasha or let her down as gently as possible. Fuzzy did neither of these and instead buried herself in her work and her studies. This had been the plan on Friday as well, but she'd taken too long delving into the new second grade classes. So when she finally showed up for lunch, there was Sasha, sitting with Julie. And they both noticed her. Sasha awkwardly waved and Fuzzy waved back just as awkwardly.

"Hey...You," said Sasha, haltingly, "What's up?"

Sasha had a salad today and so did Julie. Julie didn't look happy about her salad at all and had barely touched it.

"Just busy with work," said Fuzzy.

She looked towards the lunch room and felt her stomach growl. And sure, she could eat the morning granola bars and drink the water she'd been stashing up that were in her pockets, but after a morning of hunting birds, then butchering birds while learning her ABC's, she craved a hot meal so she could feel like a person again.

"Oh, what are you busy with?" asked Sasha.

Fuzzy looked to Julie, who had her head down and despite not wanting her food, seemed to loom over it anyway. She didn't make eye contact, but Fuzzy could tell that she was listening. Kenji had warned her not to let anyone else know that she couldn't read and this probably included Julie.

"Hunting," said Fuzzy, "And I'm doing lessons."

"Every day?" asked Sasha, incredulously.

"Sorry," said Fuzzy, honestly, "It's just that everyone is gone. I have to make up for lost time. I thought you'd be gone like everyone else."

Despite being busy, it was an excuse and Fuzzy didn't like making those. She cast her gaze downwards in guilt and confusion, but then back up again. When she looked back up she saw Sasha's arched an eyebrow and Fuzzy knew that Sasha was aware she was being avoided. But soon enough, that laser focused discernment changed to sad, to frustrated and then she put on a smile and looked over to Julie.

"I mean, I have been," said Sasha, "I've taken Julie out a few times to the arcology. Showed her around, splurged on shopping a bit. I was thinking about going to the Magician's Feast on the weekend too. It's just a little restaurant. No big deal, but...Well...You can come if you want."

The way she smiled at Julie was a pretty obvious ploy to make Fuzzy jealous. Julie didn't seem interested, but Sasha's sudden "interest" in Julie did spark some jealousy in Fuzzy. And while Fuzzy knew that Sasha could read her emotions in the astral as easily as opening up a book and reading the pages, Sasha made sure to look away to preserve her privacy.

"What's the Magician's Feast?" asked Fuzzy.

Sasha took that moment to look back at her now that the initial flare of emotion was gone. Just a peek at first, but then she put on her biggest smile.

"It's a restaurant," said Sasha, "Highly specialized. Very exclusive. You know, since they only serve awakened. I mean, they would if you weren't, but you wouldn't get much out of it. They serve ordinary food sure, but they also serve astral food and have bound spirits just roaming around the restaurant doing whatever they like. I went there last year and it was so fun. This year they only bound water spirits, so it'll be like being under the ocean."

The mention of food made Fuzzy's stomach growl again, loud enough for both Sasha and Julie to hear her. She blushed of course, but only a little. And she figured that if she was going to talk to Sasha, maybe she should do it then. Not as a way of putting off the conversation about Sasha's feelings for her for any longer, no. It's just that talking then seemed somehow infinitely better than doing it right now.

"When do you want to go?" asked Fuzzy.

Sasha face lit up like the sun which she then tried to suppress and failed. Then she panicked a bit and looked to Julie.

"We were talking about Saturday, right?" asked Sasha, "An early dinner, right?"

Julie, who hadn't spoken and barely even moved, suddenly looked up, glowering at both Fuzzy and Sasha.

"Yeah," said Julie, "Saturday."

And she looked back to her unsatisfying salad that no amount of staring would turn into a burger and fries.

"It's a date," said Sasha, happily, who once again panicked and waved her arms around, "I mean, not a date. Just a dinner. You know, not a date date. Just a date. You know, like in time."

While Sasha did the social equivalent of drowning, Fuzzy realized that going to dinner with Sasha and an unenthusiastic Julie meant leaving the island. Leaving the island happened in the morning, not in the evening, so she'd have to spend time with Sasha and Julie all day.

"Um...Sure, it's a date then," said Fuzzy.

Fuzzy's attempt to rescue Sasha suddenly made her friend blush and she wondered if she should've done that.

"Anyway," said Fuzzy, "I'm going to get something to eat. Be right back."

And she walked off just a little too quickly as her heart once again sped up. She told herself she was just hungry. That was all.