The Archipelago; three months later…
Hati Garmrson was many things, but…
Patient was not one of them.
"Ouch! Tiff! That hurt!" Hati complained to his friend, glaring back at her with bright yellow eyes in a half-hearted pout.
His pale friend was unphased by both his pouting and his glare, merely meeting yellow eyes with burgundy in a blasé expression. "It wouldn't hurt if you stayed still while I took out the pins." She pointed out, brushing off his bitter look as easily as one could imagine. Teophania was always like that the entire time Hati had known her in his twenty years. Their friendship was an odd one, but then again, werewolves were known for being aggressively social with anyone and everyone, so it was no surprise that Hati had gathered a group of some odd friends.
"Or you could just not poke me." Hati pouted. She, again, ignored him, turning to write notes in her ledger about the garment he was acting as a dress form for. Speaking of, he didn't even know why Teophania insisted on making him act as a dress form for this anyway-- he knew for a fact that she had three of them.
"Did you or your pack hear anything about what that community announcement was about?" The vampire questioned, looking at him curiously while she pulled her tape measurer off her shoulders. "Arms up."
Hati did as he was told, letting his friend measure the garment she was making, being meticulous in making sure everything was just right. "No, we didn't hear anything about it. We just got the notification that it was happening. What about your coven?"
"We got the same." She confirmed. A moment later, she stood up straight, still a good head taller than Hati, and that was without the gibson girl bun, space bun fusion she always kept her vibrant purple hair in. "Alright, it's finished. What do you think?"
Hati looked down at the skirt his friend had been tailoring. "It's nice!" He said cheerfully before he went about his ritual in spinning in the skirt and undergarments while reveling in the joy of spinning in a floofy skirt. After a few moments, he stopped. "Why'd you want me to model for the alterations anyway? I hate sitting still."
Teophania shrugged. "You have the same waist and height measurements as my client, and they weren't available so you were the next best option."
"You have three dress forms." Hati pointed out.
Teophania narrowed her eyes and looked like she'd respond before she was interrupted from voices outside. "Hati! Tiff! Are you guys there?!"
"They'd better be if we rushed all the way here." Another voice muttered, too low a volume for Tiff to hear, but not Hati.
Hati gasped excitedly. "Carmen and Atlas are here!" He said cheerfully, running toward the door so he could weave his way out of the house to meet them on the lawn.
"Hey!" Tiff called sharply, looking at Hati expectantly when he turned to see what she needed. "My skirt?"
Hati suddenly remembered why his lower half felt heavier than normal, and quickly shucked off the skirt and under skirts as if they were one piece and threw tossed the bundle to Teophania before racing outside and downstairs to see his friends.
Carmen and Atlas were standing next to each other near the footpath, and both waved cheerfully when they saw them.
Carmen was a banshee working with the Reaper Guild, and just off her latest shift if the large scythe she carried had anything to say about it. Her yellow raincoat and chartreuse knitted sweater paired well with her dark skin tone and frizzy black hair. Her smile was just as bright.
Atlas was quite the juxtaposition next to her. The demon sported bright blue hair that fell easily around his horns and wore the outfit he normally did when around the islands; dark jacket with dark jeans. His vivid green eyes crinkled in his smile, showcasing his slits of pupils. "Hey, flea bag.”
THWACK!
“OW! What gives, Car?!” Atlas yelped.
“Atlas!” Carmen scolded, having smacked him upside the head roughly. “Stop being rude to Hati! Aren’t you two friends?”
“What makes you think we aren’t?!” Atlas argued back.
“You call your friends fleabags?!” Carmen snapped at a volume only she could feasibly achieve. Hati winced a little, and Atlas clapped his hands over his pointed ears.
“Ow! Volume!” Atlas reminded bitterly. “Plus, isn’t fleabag something people call dogs?”
“Not unless they want to get their ass kicked.” Carmen bit out.
“Not on this archipelago, Atlas.” Teophania answered, having finished up her work and come out of the house to meet them.
“Oh.” Atlas murmured as he realized what he said might’ve actually been rude. “Sorry, Hati. I didn’t realize.”
“It’s okay, Atlas.” Hati smiled at his friend. “Trust me, if it hurt my feelings, you’d know about it.”
“Anyway, stop fighting, it’s not the day for any of that.” Teophania stated.
“Yeah, we have to get going if we want to make it through the Center Islands to the Community Hall for that announcement. Let’s walk together.” Carmen added on, hiking her thumb back to the maze of footpaths and wooden bridges that connected the islands to each other like veins in a body.
“Speaking of,” Atlas piped up as they started their journey. “Do any of us know what this community meeting is supposed to be about?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Teophania answered. “Our head council even asked around at the merchant port, but even travelers didn’t know what it’s for. We only know it’s an announcement from the Arcan Mainland.”
“Well, the High Spirits said it had the king’s seal on it.” Atlas supplied. “Maybe it’s a policy change?”
“I don’t understand why they constantly try to micromanage everything here when, aside from the occasional merchant family, no one visits us. Even Arcans.” Hati frowned in thought.
Atlas gave a rueful smile. “They’re probably trying to make sure we won’t turn sour towards them and start a coup.”
“Everyone here is already sour towards them.” Teophania corrected. “They just don’t want us to make a fuss and counter their mirage of a perfect country.”
Atlas chuckled, shaking his finger as he spoke. “Just stay still! We already swept you under the rug! You can’t keep moving when we have guests over or people will notice!”
Carmen rolled her eyes. “What are we, then? A heartbeat under the floorboards?”
Teophania snorted, and Hati tilted his head in confusion. “I thought we were under the rug?”
“Hati, no. Carmen’s joking about an old story where a man hides another man under the floorboards.” Teophania explained.
“Then he would have a heartbeat and it would be under the floor?” Hati replied.
“No, because he killed the man before putting him under the floorboards. The heartbeat is him imagining it when he’s talking to police about the man he killed.”
“Basically Carmen’s saying we’re not causing the Arcan’s trouble, but they’re worried about other countries finding out we aren’t isolated by choice.” Atlas explained.
“Oh! Okay, that makes a lot more sense.” Hati said cheerfully.
“But the thing about no one knowing what this is about really worries me.” Atlas said. “What if the reason we didn’t hear about this ahead of time like we normally do is because it’s going to cause mass panic or an uproar?”
Teophania raised a brow. “Since when do you care about an uproar?”
“If there’s an uproar there’s going to be so much work.”Atlas complained, slumping his shoulders. “What about you, Carmen? You seriously didn’t hear anything at the Reaper Guild? Not even in their Afterlife Offices?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t tell you.” Carmen answered. Atlas slouched further.
After a couple more minutes, the group made it to the centermost and largest island of the archipelago, and trekked to the large community square. The stage was empty, aside from a single microphone on a stand, but creatures were still gathering in droves.
The group looked at each other, knowing they would most likely be separated anyway. “Want to go to our respected people and catch up later?” Atlas suggested. His friends nodded.
Hati broke off first with a wave, slipping through the crowd to find his pack members. Knowing them, they wouldn’t be too hard to find. Sure enough, he spotted the group just as they spotted him. Garmr, the alpha of his pack, grinned and held his arms out. He was quite a burly man, with a full beard and long hair, both decorated with braids and beads, some carved with runes, and others bright colors and patterns. “Hatir!” the man called in their native tongue.
Hati grinned, greeting the large burly man who raised him before he was pulled into a near bone-crushing hug. “Garmr!” Hati said happily as he was let go. He glanced at the other pack members who were present. Many pack members had stayed home, and many of the older children, too. Still... “Where is Fenrir?” He asked in their native tongue. “Shouldn’t he be here for this?”
Garmr shrugged. “He wanted to continue his lessons with the pups, so I let him. Learning to defend oneself is important.”
“Of course.” Hati agreed. “But you know they’re only going to play while you’re not there, right?”
“Well, that’s important too.” Garmr said with a chuckle. “How are your friends? Are they well?”
“As well as they usually are.” Hati explained cheerfully. “Though, they’re concerned about what was so important for a community meeting that no one could hear about beforehand.”
“That’s a reasonable concern, especially since they wouldn’t tell the individual leaders about the contents.”
“They didn’t even tell you?” Hati asked, surprised.
“Not even me.” Garmr confirmed. Both winced when the microphone screamed with a painful feedback. “You’d think using auditory magic would prevent that heinous noise, let alone be the cause of it.” He muttered, nevertheless turning his attention to the person charged with giving the announcement. Said person was very clearly from the Arcan mainland, if one could tell from how utterly scared the man seemed to be on the stage in front of hundreds of beings that looked different to say the least.
“The microphone is on; go ahead and speak as normal and it will project your voice properly to everyone.” The being helping with the sound system explained. The man seemed confused at that, but still did as suggested with a terrified nod.
“The King of Arca has made a decision. After careful deliberation and planning, it has been decided that a pre-selected four of your young have been chosen to attend the Arcan Institute Of Collegiate Academia. There, they will stay in the dorms and do their best to acclimate themselves to Arcan society.” The poor man nodded a little. “Thank you.”
The being in charge of the sound system took over then, letting the poor man escape off the stage and into the Liaison Center. “If your name is called, please proceed to the Community Hall’s foremost discussion room with your respective kinship leader or liaison; your bags have already been packed for you out of courtesy.”
The pack shared confused looks with each other as the people around them murmured, the crowd filled with the same confusion and bewilderment as Hati felt. What were they trying to do? Why now? Why with a pre-selected group?
“Carmen Loch,”
The entire crowd seemed to freeze when the first name was read. Anyone in the Reaper Guild was usually left alone whenever the community needed extra work from volunteers, due to how much they worked and how important their occupation was. It was something that never stopped, and assigning extra work to someone in the reaper guild was taboo.
This was going to be interesting to say the least.
“Atlas Alastair,”
Hati almost laughed when he heard Atlas’ audible groan from somewhere in the crowd.
“Teophania Helinaste, and Hati Canistrano.”
Hati’s shoulders slumped. They even got his last name wrong, but honestly he wasn’t sure if he expected any different from Arca.
F*ck.
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