Hati quietly slid another book onto the built-in bookshelf. He’d been unpacking for a good ten minutes while Atlas, who was rooming with him, sulked on his bed. The room itself was dreary and worn down; a room that had never been renovated since the castle was created, and much smaller than any of the other rooms they’d toured in the buildings. Still, though, they barely managed to stuff two small beds and a table into the area, with a kitchenette next to the bathroom door. Hati didn’t really mind though– his village had always been built very simply, as had Atlas’ village when he’d stayed there for about a year. What was stuck in his mind was the sheer juxtaposition of this room compared to the rest of the building.

Anyway, ten minutes might not have been long for unpacking, but it was when it was Atlas sulking. “Atlas, you have to start unpacking at some point.”

“Let me grieve, Hati.” Atlas grumbled, his face still buried in his bedding.

Hati raised a brow and turned to look at his best friend. “What are we grieving?” He asked cautiously. 

Atlas finally moved his face into the open air. “My pride.” he cried, sniffling after he got the shaky words out. 

“...Why?” Hati asked. Sure, demons were prideful, but Atlas was never really one to cry about any hits to his ego, no matter how big. 

“She said EW!” Atlas cried out as though he was a child having a tantrum. “I mean, I’ve been rejected 6 ways to Sunday, but no one’s ever said ew… What made her say something so mean?”

Hati sighed, realizing they were talking about their oh so polite hostess. “To be honest, Atlas, I don't know. She seemed like she had her hackles up the whole time she was around us. That might just be who she is, but either way I think she simply said that to hurt you. You're very handsome, Atlas, and no one trying to be harmful can change that.”

Atlas sniffled, and stared at his friend for a moment before he spoke up. “...Thanks, Hati.”

“Of course,” Hati said cheerfully while Atlas wiped his eyes and smiled when his friend was done. “Now you should unpack.”

Atlas groaned. “Fine.” Both tensed when someone knocked on the door. 

“Schedules.” Someone called through the splintery wood. 

“I got it.” Atlas said, getting up and opening the door just wide enough to greet the RA and get the papers he was given. He waved them at Hati before they both convened at the rickety table on creaky chairs that looked like they’d give out their final death rattle and fall apart at any moment. Atlas passed Hati his paper, and they quietly started reading. 

STUDENT- HATI CANISTRANO

DOB 10/13/XXXX            SEX/ M

CLASS SCHEDULE- FIRST SEMESTER, MON-FRI

ELECTIVE- CULTURAL STUDIES COURSE A 8:00 AM- 9:00 AM

REQUIRED- ARCAN LITERATURE (REMEDIAL) 9:15 AM- 10:15 AM

REQUIRED- GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE A 10:30 AM- 11:30 AM

ELECTIVE- INTRO TO HEALTH 11:45 AM- 12:45 PM

LUNCH 12:45 PM- 1:00 PM

REQUIRED- ARCAN LANGUAGE COURSE A 1:00 PM-2:00 PM

ELECTIVE- INTRO TO CULINARY 2:15 PM- 3:15 PM

REQUIRED- P.E. COURSE A* 3:30 PM- 4:30 PM

ELECTIVE- INTRO TO ART APPRECIATION 4:45 PM- 5:45 PM

NOTES:

*PE WILL BE STALLED UNTIL THE SECOND WEEK OF CLASSES

IF SCHEDULES HAVE ISSUES REGARDING AVAILABILITY/ CLASS CONTENT, CHANGE CLASSES WITH HEADMASTER ANDERSON BEFORE THE END OF THE FOURTH WEEK

THANK YOU

Hati frowned as he looked through the schedule. A lot of the words were hard for Hati to understand, given that the archipelago didn’t have many Arcan texts with higher than a young adult reading level, and Hati didn’t practice the language much due to the astronomically small likelihood he’d ever have to use the language. Just his luck. 

One thing he did recognize though was mon-fri, along with the times for classes, and Hati knew that would be a problem. Normally, Hati and Atlas shared their usual morning prayers at around six in the morning for two hours, with exceptions for the day after each full moon. However, on Fridays, Hati’s prayers lasted until 8:45 to nine am at the latest. Years prior, Atlas had joined him in the practice, though praying to his respective deity. If the schedule really did carry through from Monday to Friday, They’d be missing at least an hour of classes a week. 

Hati looked up to see Atlas glowering, clearly having noticed the same schedule issue he had. “This isn’t gonna work.” Atlas said with a frown. 

“Definitely not.” Hati agreed. He got up, glancing down in concern as the poor chair screeched in protest. “No worries, I’ll catch up to the RA and ask how to change our schedules. I’m sure it won’t be too complicated.” 

“Uh, Hati, I don’t think that’s the best idea.” Atlas chimed in. 

“Nonsense!” Hati responded cheerfully. “My pack says it’s better to fix the issue as early as you can instead of waiting for it to become something that affects your life in a negative way.” 

“I understand that, Hati, and usually that is a great way to go about things; but I think we should go to headmaster Anderson or the student council in the morning instead of going to the RA about it right now. A lot of the humans here are giving off weird energy, and he was one of them. I don’t know what it means yet, so I think the best option would be to wait on this.” 

“It’ll be okay, Atlas! Even if Sirena wasn’t very kind, Milo was really nice so I’m sure it won’t be an issue!” Hati assured with strong confidence.

Atlas frowned nervously, knowing that Hati really wasn’t taking this as seriously as he probably should. “But Hati, I didn’t get that feeling from Milo.” He started gently, but unfortunately Hati was already out the door and flagging the RA down in the hallway. Atlas sighed.

“Hey, Randy, right?” Hati asked cheerfully as he caught up to who he guessed was the RA as he moved away from Carmen and Teophania’s room. The man looked back at his name and Hati took it as a confirmation. Randy was significantly taller than Hati even with his slouching posture, with short blond hair and dull green eyes that had a glint to them that Hati couldn’t remember what it reminded him of. “I have to ask you something about my friend and I’s sche-”

“You’re that wolfman beast thing, right?” Randy asked. Hati tensed. The man spoke in an accent that made it harder for Hati to understand his question in the first place, but he definitely understood the slur he’d used.

Hati chuckled awkwardly, scratching the human-esque ear that his camouflage shifting turned his normal ears into, sating an invisible itch. “I know you probably don’t know, but Wolfman is really offensive to werewolves and-”

“Is it like, a curse where the wolf and the man are totally separate or is it like..?” Randy interrupted again.

“Werewolf form mechanics aren’t really something I can explain in a passing conversa-”

“Oh, wait! Do you like, chase carriages and stuff?”

“No.” 

“Do you bark at the mailman?”

Hati tried to evade the blatant insensitivity by focusing on a different question. “What’s a mailman?”

“Oh, wait, wait, wait! Do you guys like rawhide bones like dogs do?”

“Rawhide bones are actually very unhealthy for both werewolves and dogs, and you should really avoid them; natural items like ears, bones from a butcher or hooves are a by far better option. Look, my friend and I have a problem with our-”

“Yeah yeah,” Randy dismissed, turning away and ending the conversation now that his curiosity was sated. “I’ll bring it up with the maintenance staff.” He called, taking long strides to the end of the hall. He sent a lazy wave as he disappeared into another corridor. “Later, Wolfman!”

Hati stood frozen in the middle of the hallway for a few long minutes, processing the conversation while light from the setting sun slanted down into the hallway from the grand, opulent windows displaying the campus and the forest beyond that. “That was…” Hati looked down at his schedule, crumpled and sad-looking in his hands while tears pricked at his eyes. “Much worse than I expected.”

…

Hati quietly closed his dorm’s door behind him and slumped against it, not caring at the moment if he got splinters. 

Atlas was sitting on his bed as his items floated one by one to their designated spots. He looked up from the book he was reading nonchalantly when he heard the click. “No luck?” he asked cheerfully, before he processed Hati’s expression and got up, speaking in their common tongue out of his sense of urgency. “Woah, wait, Hati… what happened?”

A tear rolled down his cheek. Then another, then another. Hati was quick to try to wipe his cheeks. “Sorry, Atlas, I..” He sniffled a bit as he trailed off.

“What? Hati, why are you apologizing to me? Stop that! What happened? And stop wiping at your face, you’ll make your nose raw.” Atlas said, gently taking Hati by his forearms and guiding him towards the table, before he looked at it and winced at the thought of using the rickety splinter-machines and changed direction to make Hati sit on his bed. “Come on, Hati, what’s got you crying like this? What happened, huh? Tell me~.”

“You were right, it was a bad idea…” Was all that Hati told him. 

Atlas frowned. “He was really bad, wasn’t he?” he asked softly. Hati gave a little nod. 

“I expected him to be a little offensive, especially since they don’t know anything about us like Tiff said, but… then he kept calling me slurs and asking me weird stuff, but he didn’t even listen to any answers, he just wanted to ask for the sake of asking, and then he ignored me when he was done…” Hati said, his voice cracking uncomfortably. “I know I shouldn't cry over something like that, and I usually don’t but I just… I dunno; this morning I was eating breakfast with my pack and helping out my friends around the islands and then I had to say goodbye to them and we had to argue to get even that much and…”

“It’s a huge amount of change in a small amount of time; I totally understand, Hati.” Atlas said gently, sitting next to his friend. “And it’s probably going to be especially hard on you because of how closely werewolves bond with their packs. It’s really feasible, and you know me; I won’t judge you for a little crying. Will you do something for me though?”

Hati sniffled before he looked at Atlas, who gave him an encouraging smile when they made eye contact. “What is it?”

“Just, let me know if anyone ever bugs you while we’re here.” Atlas said. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on, and if people do bug you, then we can even get Carmen and Tiff to help out if we really need it.”

“Okay.” Hati said quietly. “I will.”

“Yay! Thank you, Hati; you’re so awesome!”Atlas cheered at a respectable volume. “Good job!”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m not; you really did a good job!” Atlas said, giving his friend a side hug and ruffling his hair. 

“Okay, that’s enough.” Hati chuckled weakly, reluctantly feeling a little better from his best friend’s antics. “You’re being weird.”

“Yeah, right~.” Atlas said teasingly. “Both of us know you love compliments; you’re just being a butt since you’re in a new place, but I know your tail would 100% be giving you away if you weren’t still using shapeshifting magic.”

“Well, you don’t have to point it out!” Hati complained, wriggling when his friend trapped him in a headlock. Finally though, he laughed. “Atlas, come on!” 

“There’s the smile I was hoping for.” Atlas said cheerfully as he relented and let his friend go. “Do you feel any better?”

“Yeah…” Hati admitted softly. “Thanks, Atlas.”