An odd assortment arrived at one of the city's void laboratories. Brie and CC were there to take their Cani power test, and the entire Ofohp family, Derby, Colby, Dani, and Emme tagged along, as did Derby's friends Sage and Lacy.

"How are you feeling?" Derby asked.

"Oh, I'm fine," CC said. "A little gassy from nerves, but I'm cool."

"She was asking me, fool," Brie said. She proudly put her hand on her chest and added, "I am similarly gassy from nerves."

"I think having all these people with would make me more anxious," Derby said.

"Quite the opposite for me, Derby of Hope," Brie said. "An audience will make my combat prowess all the more glorious. What I'm anxious about is the..." She gulped. "Written test."

Derby had tried to help Brie with a very late night cram session on her test. Derby also searched online to see how hard the test was for people visiting this world from the void, and had mixed reactions on the difficulty level.

Brie and CC's case worker Camembert came out to greet them, eyes widening when she saw all of the group together.

"Oh, wow," Camembert said, getting an extra sip of her coffee as she mentally counted how many were there.

"Apologies if my party's number is too great," Brie said.

"Well, normally when people from the void show up here, they don't make this many friends right away," Camembert said.

"Shall we all introduce ourselves?" Emme said, raising her eyebrows. "I'm Emme, and I'd love to make your acquaintance, if you know what I mean."

"I'm nearly fifty, and happily married," Camembert said.

"Not an issue for me," Emme said. Dani kicked her sister's foot. "I'm joking, come on!"

"Go wait in the truck," Dani said. "Sorry. She's, just awful."

"You meet a lot of characters in my line of work," Camembert said. "Now, you're all aware these two will be taking a ninety minute test, correct? You can stay, but you obviously won't be able to talk to them during the test."

"We thought we'd, um," Derby trailed off, intimidated by Camembert's presence.

"We're gonna cheer them on for the power part, is that still today?" Dani asked.

"Yep, that's after, so if you want to come back when they're done you can," Camembert said. "Otherwise you can wait in the lobby, but the magazines are all very old, the TV only plays a thirty minute DVD of a waterfall on loop, and it'd take me a while to make enough coffee for everyone."

Derby winced at Brie.

"It will be fine," Brie said. "You can return for my triumphant display of my Cani powers once I have obliterated that written test."

"OK..." Derby said. "Good luck!"

Brie still felt a twinge of sadness as Derby, her family, and friends left. It was just her and CC now, with the mountain to climb of a potentially incredibly difficult test. The testing area looked like any classroom Brie had learned in growing up, though with more motivational posters about math than about monster slaying. There were piles of books and brochures at the front of the room, as well as some calculator-looking devices.

"First part of the test is open book, so you can read through any of these that you'd like," Camembert said. "Feel free to use a translator too, you just scan the text and...it's pretty self explanatory. Or check in with me if you have questions. Obviously don't share answers between each other."

It seemed as though Brie and CC were the only ones taking the test during this session. Brie tried to sit in a corner so CC would be away from her, but her fellow dark lord sat directly behind her.

Brie tried to calm herself as the test began. Open book meant this wouldn't be too tough. The first section was about the new world she was in, and the difference between it and the unstable dimensions of the void. Brie wasn't too concerned that her home was in an unstable world as she read about it, she figured if something did put it in danger, everyone in the Skarlax realm could figure it out.

The first hurdle she ran into was finding the proper book for answers she wasn't fully confident in. She had to answer a few about the geography of the realm, but the only social studies books were all similarly named, but not in a helpful manner.

"Why is this accursed book title so long?" Brie muttered to herself as she scanned over So, You're New to this World and You're Taking Your Cani Power Test, Well, The Written One At Least, and You Need Answers, Big Ones! Well, in This Book Some of those Answers Are Here: 1,001 Facts About the VCV and its Five States, All Told In Easy to Understand Wording and Text and Whatnot for Newcomers to This World (Seek Other Versions if You Live In Different Country than the VCV).

Brie felt something against her back. Then again. CC was throwing little bits of paper at her. She decided to ignore this.

"Psst," CC said. "Hey. Brie."

"Shut up," Brie said.

CC tapped her pencil on the table. The rhythm of her taps was somehow intensely infuriating, and Brie snapped her own pencil, needing to get another.

"Stop that," Brie said.

"So I can't talk, can't play with my pencil, what can I do around you?"

"Take your damn test! That's what you can do!" Brie said.

"Alright, cool it with the chatter," Camembert said.

"But! She's!" Brie growled, moving a few seats over. CC did the same, resulting in the two being the same number of chair spaces apart as before.

The Cani biology section was a lot easier. Although a lot of the words were different in the Skarlax realm, the general principle was the same, so she was able to answer questions about the different types of Cani. Many Cani could shapeshift, they had powers, fangs, sometimes tails and other animal-like appendages. Some Cani looked like beasts, some could transform into beasts. Easy stuff. She was surprised to see Elka was called the same thing in this world as it was in hers, the malevolent substance, usually a liquid, used by powerful warriors that could be enhanced by negative emotions of the user or their targets. Brie wasn't a fan of using Elka, but found herself doing battle with plenty of monsters made from the substance.

CC walked past Brie's row, and Brie tried to cover her answer sheet, but she didn't need to.

"Teacher, I am complete," CC said. "Well, I mean the test is completed, by me. I am whole but is anyone ever really complete?"

"Not one for philosophy myself," Camembert said, taking CC's pages.

"How'd she finish already?" Brie whispered.

CC grinned wickedly as Camembert fed the test paper into another machine.

"For me, sometimes I think complete as a person is like, romance and kids. But that can be reductive too, you know?" CC said. "I think it really depends on my mood."

"Tch," Brie snapped another pencil. That whole "you need romance to be complete" nonsense was how she ended up in an arranged marriage to Magie de Madawaska. At least, that was part of it, some Skarlax council members being rather traditional about dark lords needing to be wed. Brie was fine single, she'd be happy with a partner, maybe even more, but she wouldn't let that define her, and she didn't want anyone else to, either. Derby flashed into Brie's mind for a moment, easing her tension at least slightly.

Oh, Derby of Hope. What would I do without you? I'm sure you wouldn't judge me as incomplete if I had a romance. Or if I didn't have one, too. Because you're not a judgmental fool like so many I encounter. She scowled at CC again, who was still at the front of the test room.

"Oh, we're grading right here?" CC asked.

"Yep," Camembert said. She checked her computer as the results came in. "And a perfect score, too."

"What?" Brie hissed. "You mean perfect as in she got every question wrong?"

"No, and don't worry about her results," Camembert said. She handed CC a packet. "Next is the written part, this'll take a bit longer. Hint: take a bit longer on this."

"I will write you something beautiful!" CC said.

"Write something that answers the essay questions properly instead of any flowery poetry," Camembert said.

Brie winced. She still had a lot of the multiple choice section to go, and then another mountain to climb in the essay portion. She thought of Derby again.

I can do this. For me, and for her.

Derby, meanwhile, arrived with her friends and family at one of the local game stores in a smaller strip mall.

"Kay, I'm looking at clothes," Colby said as she broke from the group.

"I might...have to also look for clothes," Aunt Emme said.

"You're not banned from this one, too, are you?" Dani asked.

"Maybe? I think it's the whole Game Jam Shop chain," Emme said.

"Why? What happened?" Sage asked.

"Tried to trade in a game for another game, it was so stupid," Emme said. "Apparently they don't like it when you try to trade in Bodacious Babes XVIII for Bodacious Babes XIX."

"They also don't like customers jumping behind the counter to 'really make sure the game is delivered,' or whatever you said," Dani said.

"Those words were taken out of context!" Emme said.

"From where?" Sage asked.

"It was in the paper," Dani said.

"Luckily nobody reads that rag," Emme said. "And I didn't jump the counter, I just...tripped in a strange way that lead to me falling over there. Anyways, have fun with that."

"I literally can't take you anywhere," Dani said. "Have fun, Derby!"

Dani went with Colby and Emme, leaving Derby, Sage, and Lacy to go to the game store.

"Just like old times, huh?" Sage said.

"I suppose..." Derby said, not really remembering any old times where the three went game shopping. "But! I have convinced Mom to give me $39.99 to buy a new game.

"Did she give you exact change?" Lacy asked.

"Huh?" Derby said, blushing. "Well...the game costs that much. Mom gave me fifty...."

"You really haven't changed," Lacy said, covering her mouth as she laughed.

"I...that's..." Derby said.

"Derbs, you being who you are is a constant in all our lives," Sage said.

Derby really wanted to get Bartering Simulator AB-816, and laser focused on searching the shelves for it. None of the games in the store were in order so it was a pain to look, but it was easier to be quiet and search than navigate the awkwardness of forgetting about Lacy and also all of Derby's pestering of Lacy on her MMO, not knowing who she was. An issue came up when she found the game she was looking for too easily in spite of the mess of the store's organization. The others didn't look ready to leave, would she be able to handle a conversation now?

"How'd you meet that tall chick?" Lacy asked, making Derby yelp and almost knock over a row of sports games.

"I...er...fell into the void, I think?" Derby said. "And ran into monsters. And Brie saved me. Then kinda started living at my house. Or staying for a bit."

Lacy nodded, looking like she was going to ask more, but apparently that was enough.

"Oh, hey..." Derby said, grabbing a game case off a shelf. "This is that one you wanted, isn't it?"

Lacy looked over to Sage, then realized Derby wasn't talking to them.

"I...I mean you," Derby laughed, sounding almost like she was going to be sick but she managed to somewhat keep her composure. "Didn't you say you were saving up Fantasy Bucks to buy this Tyrant Rangers spinoff?"

Lacy's eyes lit up. "Oh wow, yeah! You remembered that?"

"S-somehow," Derby said. Lacy mentioned that when Derby got one of her many commissions for game mods.

Sage found a game they wanted too, an old party game. "Now that Lacy's back, we should have a total nostalgia night. Sleepover, pizza, old games, the works."

"That sounds fun!" Lacy said.

Derby didn't want to immediately blurt out that that was terrifying, but she couldn't deny it also sounded fun. She wondered if Brie had ever been to a slumber party.

Once the group had all bought their games, they searched a bit more, Derby's anxiousness around Lacy easing slightly.

"Derby doesn't look like she's gonna puke anymore, that's good," Sage said as the three moved outside to wait for Derby's family. "You know how she gets."

"What do you mean how I get?" Derby asked.

Sage and Lacy both laughed. Derby pouted, but deep down she didn't feel like she was being made fun of. She was a bit concerned about having someone else in the mix for Sage hang out time, one of the few times she wasn't completely a wreck of anxiety in public. She knew it would take time to adjust, even if she could. But she was adjusting to having a dark lord as a roommate, so maybe she could handle another friend, too.