(Note from the Author)
Happy December 1st, readers! My apologies again for getting these snippets out so slow. 😔 BUT…At least I’m still posting them! I had considered stopping this serial already because I have yet to finish it (as usual) and think it’s draining and stressing me out.
However, that’s what writing is about, isn’t it? Pushing on even when it’s hard. So I’m going to see this serial to the end, even if it takes forever. Because finishing a project is something we all strive to do and love the feeling of accomplishment. But if it gets boring or confusing, let me know and I will stop posting it for your sake. 😁
(Writing Style)
Bold, Italicized, and in Parenthesis = a “reader’s” PoV reading this story
Bold = Inktober Prompt(s)
🎃 Project Rival 🎃
It’s not going to stop, Tober smirked to himself, twirling his fork in his hand. Not ever. Not while we still breathe in the same disgusting air. (Oh, the world's already suffering from pollution? Greeaatt, next it’ll be a fantasy version of “Just Stop Oil” dweebs.)
“Thinking about your next foolish, petty prank on her?”
He looked up when a tray was set next to him to stare into the red eyes of his lawyer-advisor–closest secretary–FRIEND. (....suspicious….) “Of course I am, what else would I be doing outside of achieving the highest goals?”
“Second-highest,” he was corrected, which touched a nerve. “There are still other top students around. You two are not the only ones in the world who've achieved excelling scores.”
“Oh look who’s talking, Mr. Valedictorian Vampire who is thirty points ahead of us.”
“For the moment, Pumpernickel.” The vampire sat down next to him. “One of you will always end up coming on top because you got bored and cannot stand the sight of someone else other than each other on top. Really, you two need different hobbies.”
Tober gasped and put a hand to his heart. “No! Say it isn’t so! Oh, what a travesty!”
“And you need to drop out of the drama club.” (*chuckles* Okay, Vampire-Man is obviously probably the only decent one here.)
“Oh come now, Exotic.” Bäk swallowed his food and pushed his tray aside. “Where’s your sense of humor?”
“Stolen by the Pumperkin,” came the immediate reply.
Tober smirked and leaned back with his hands behind his head. “But of course. Someone has to be the funny one here.”
“In many ways…” Päk forced out coughs as he avoided eye contact from the abyssal glare.
“I heard that.”
“We just want to double check your hearing,” Exotic shot back as he drank his soup. (Ohhh, this banter….starting to love the friend group. Also not totally unnerved by him just casually drinking blood like soup.)
Bäk sat up and patted the table. “Oh oh, Nerd’s coming.”
Tober glanced up and sighed. “Don’t be so hard on the poor kid. He is a second-year after all.”
Exotic wiped his mouth with his napkin, eyes closed. “Still the perfect bullying material.”
“Oh you all are such sixth-years.” He waved the bird-shifter down. “Nocular!”
“He’s lumping himself with us though, right?” Päk stage-whispered.
His twin nodded seriously. “He’s not the biggest lunkhead for nothing.”
Shall we put a pause in the story for a moment to gather all the intel we have on the friend group? (What is this, a play where you have an on-stage narrator who interrupts when they want to?) We have the obvious, forceful ringleader, the Pumperkin Tober. We have the mischievous faun twins Bäk and Päk, the snarky and beautiful Vampire Exotic, and the introverted brains bird shifter Binoculars, or Nocular for short.
What an interesting group of friends you must be thinking. (No…not really…) If not, well I’m sorry that you seem to be finding yourself as such a bore you cannot enjoy a good story when it comes. (This narrator is breaking the fourth-wall!! *shooketh*)
Ah! And how could I be forgetting the brawn of the group, Trek the elf? Now where is he…ah! There he is, flirting away with the she-elf.
Wait what?? Tober spun around, scanning the room and immediately zoned in on the two elves. Why that sniveling… He bristled when Ynk caught his eye and smirked with a victorious smug look that clearly said, ‘I have your friend. What are you going to do about it?’
Alright then. I can easily do you a favor for doing that. Standing up, he calmly strolled towards them, his eyes on the prize. Besides…Exotic could use a girlfriend.