This takes place a little after the Samhain incident, but not enough past it to ruin anything. After leaving Lauren for the second year classes she takes, Krys begins to have some issues.

Goddess, this class is boring… I wanna smoothie… What’s Lori doing? Kryssia thought for the fourth or fifth time that day.

Kryssia often found herself bored at the most inopportune moments, which made her grades suffer on occasion. But at the same time, she was smart enough to realize what she needed help with and how to reach out for said help. This was one of those moments where she should be paying attention but wasn’t.

Looking over, Krys didn’t see Lauren anywhere, but that wasn’t anything new. As this was a second year class, it wasn’t possible for Lauren to be there with her. But Val also wasn’t in class with her, so it was a really boring time. With no persons of entertaining quality, a lecture she was definitely going to fall asleep during, and a severe lack of sugar, Krys wasn’t certain how she would make it through the day. Until she saw the clock, which revealed to her that she had only another five minutes.

Those last few minutes of this hellishly prolonged class seemed to go on forever, but it did eventually end. Which finally meant Krys could vanish off into the café for something full of sugar, and boy did she relish that part of the day. Having packed earlier than usual, and dashing out the very second the teacher finished speaking, Krys was about halfway to the café when she overheard something horrifying.

“Did you hear, the café had a problem with their freezers. I hear the ice cream is all melted.” A girl passing told her friend.

Krys almost fell over when she heard that. It’s all melted? That can’t be… No, it just can’t.

Krys broke into a run again, her legs powered by a sense of desperation and fear.

Rounding the corner she saw a sign above the door of the café; “Freezers down, cold foods not available.” And it was then that Krys had to face her worst fears. No ice cream, no smoothies, no slushies, no cold and wonderful sugary snacks… it was the day from hell.

Krys exited the café, her life suddenly meaningless and terrible. She could go to the library and try to take her mind off the horrors she would have to live with… or she could go sulk in the courtyard until Val got out of class and they could go get actual food… but that wouldn’t fix the hole torn in her heart.

And so Krys wandered, her heart a maelstrom of negative emotions. She would look through windows like a sad dog out in the rain, or wander about by bouncing off walls, or she would sit on a stone bench in one of the various smaller courtyards looking despondent. Her eyes, to those passing by, were cold and empty.

Crowds and couples gave Krys a wide berth, a fear of contracting her dejection running amok through them all. Those who were depressed normally would avoid Krys as well, a general sense of dread and falling deeper into despair permeated their souls if they wandered too close to her. Four people committed academic suicide that day.

An hour later, Val wandered out of her classroom and was stopped by the spectre of what was once Kryssia. The look across Krys’ face was that of a dead fish, the hollow eyes and less than lively facial features told a story obscene sadness. In an instant, Val knew something had rocked her friend’s world to the core.

“Krys, what’s wrong?” Val asked hesitantly.

“I wouldn’t pull the pin on that grenade if I was you…” Schezré whispered in Val’s ear.

“Val…” Krys said, her eyes watering, her face getting red.

“Did somebody smash your parfait?” Val asked, the most logical question she could think of being put forth first.

“The… the café… their freezers are… WAAAAAAAAAAH!” Krys cried horrendously.

Val looked at Shezré for a moment, the daemon looked at her as well. They shared a moment of confusion, but then it struck them. Broken freezer, they mouthed at one another.

Turning back to the task at hand, Val spoke to Krys. “Hey, why don’t you go sit in the large courtyard and I’ll see if I can’t find some way to make things better.”

Krys looked puzzled for a moment, but eventually nodded. Val normally figured out how to fix things, so Krys would just have to trust in her constant companion. Krys and Val went in different directions, and with different intent.

Krys eventually found herself in the large courtyard and sat herself down on one of the ornate stone benches. She gazed around, looking for some way to numb herself until Val showed up again. There wasn’t anything really she could focus on, but she did spot something copper that bobbed up and down out of the corner of her eye. Turning to see what it was, she saw a somewhat depressed looking Lauren wandering about.

Krys got up and bumped herself into Lauren’s torso. Lauren snapped out of her funk when she felt the body of her friend knock into her. She blinked a few times and then patted Krys on the head.

“Rough day?” Lauren asked.

“Broken café.” Krys said.

Lauren nodded, “I saw the sign above the door. I was lucky enough to grab a parfait for breakfast, so it didn’t really phase me. But I imagine for a sugar daemon like you that’s a terrifying thing.”

Krys hugged Lauren close, her tears hitting Lauren’s jacket as she sobbed over her lost treasures.

“Hey now, no tears. I’ve got something I’ve been holding onto for a bit. Lets head to my room.” Lauren responded.

As Krys allowed herself to be led away by the hand, she and Lauren just missed Val showing up with a pair of shaved ice bowls from the tea room. Val would go on to eat both bowls of shaved ice in irritation. Krys would not know about the shaved ice for a week.

Lauren opened the door and told Krys to plop herself on Val’s bed and sit tight. It was moments later when she came over with a small cup of ice cream, the kind you might find sold in packages at a grocery store for cheap. Lauren then sat down next to Krys and they opened the tops to retrieve the wooden “spoons” hidden under the caps. Krys brightened immediately after getting a scoop of the frozen dairy into her mouth, but then it dawned on her.

“Lori, where did you get these?” Krys asked suspiciously.

“So… I played a hunch that there would be some sort of online delivery service for the island, and while it took a bit of finagling to get the site from anybody, I made sure to put in a few orders of stuff I thought might be important. I mean, you remember when I got put under house arrest because of the earring incident?” Lauren responded.

“So you bought them to bribe Fianna into letting you out of the room.” Krys said, looking disproving.

Lauren shook her head, “No, these were for me. I bought Fianna a necklace.”

Krys nodded sagely, “Truly a wise decision.”

Lauren shrugged before taking another bite. They sat in silence for a few minutes, but eventually Krys asked a question that had been on her mind all evening.

“What do you think happened to the freezers?”

“Well… I can’t name names or anything, but what we’re thinking happened was sabotage by a student. Since there’s supposed to be four separate generators powering just the freezers, there was no way a simple power outage could have taken them offline. So foul play was involved… or so Fianna said when I asked her earlier today.” Lauren explained.

“OK, well that’s unfortunate. Hopefully they have it fixed by tomorrow.” Krys said, finishing off her cup of ice cream.

Lauren got up and opened the freezer in the kitchenette. Pulling out four small cups of ice cream, she put them in a small bag and handed it to Krys.

“Just in case, you know.” Lauren said, smiling.

Character Profile:

Kryssia Albu

Age: 17

Hair: Blonde, Eyes: Light Blue (white when not glamoured)

Likes: Sweets, Val, "fun" things

Dislikes: bees, "not fun" things

Creature Type: Valve Albe (benevolent spirit)

Skills: Minor clairvoyance, intangebility

Favorite Food: Powdered jelly donuts with vanilla ice cream