"I Laugh in the Face of Danger."
The meeting of two grumpy cats (Rollo and Leona) 😳 Not me inserting a Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish reference, thereby just throwing more cats into the concoction...
My mentor Leona bias also rears its head…
A Big Savanaclaw Welcome to Rollo!
It was a grave mistake on Rollo’s part to waltz into Savanaclaw in his normal attire. The weather is warm, causing sweat to pool and stick to his clothes during the trek to the dorm building. But no, he won't so much as roll up his sleeves or unbutton his collar--that would be an affront to Noble Bell College's uniform!!
It doesn't help his mood that the students jeer as he passes, making comments about how he "won't last five minutes" in their territory. I think you'll find that it is yourselves who won't last five minutes in my presence, Rollo bitterly remarks--though only to himself. He'd have his revenge on them soon enough.
Rollo is miraculously able to suppress the urge to chide them then and there, not wishing to make a public scene. As soon as he steps inside of the dorm building though, he's quickly confronted with a new challenger: Leona Kingscholar.
He was expecting a dorm leader to present themselves with some level of decorum. Those expectations are quickly shattered when he enters to find Leona lounging in bed, Ruggie picking up clothing scattered on the floor, and Jack trying (and failing) to convince his dorm leader to get up.
Ruggie and Jack notice Rollo right away, their ears perking and eyes sharpening as soon as they pick up on his footsteps. Leona doesn't even spare a glance until he casually rolls over onto his side. At last, the lion beastman draws himself up and purrs, "Well, well, well. Look what we have here, our exalted guest from the City of Flowers."
"Were I truly an 'exalted' guest in your eyes, you would have taken more care to mediate your slovenly presentation," Rollo replied, a slight edge to his voice. His patience, worn. “… A pleasure.”
“For fresh meat, you’re quick to nitpick and nag,” Leona snorts. “Maybe you aren’t aware, but around here, I’m the king and my orders are absolute.”
“Then surely a king would behave with more grace and tact. Unfortunately, I sense very little in you.” Already, there is tension in the air, which Ruggie is quick to pick up on.
"Hey, hey, let's all chillax! You guys only just met, and you're about to have a fight? Let's at least wait until we have lunch first!" the hyena suggests. "Right, Jack-kun?" ("R-Right, Ruggie-senpai!" the first year obediently agrees with his upperclassman, then moves in to help tear the two apart.)
Leona and Rollo take their meals separately, not bothering to speak much to the other. As Rollo munches on a croissant, he frowns judgmentally at how Leona tears into meat like some wild animal.
The more he observes of the place, the more it is affirmed that Rollo doesn’t care for Savanaclaw in general—the students are rowdy and classless, and the heat unbearable. Worse yet, he can’t tear his eyes away from their hideous uniform. That can hardly be called a shirt, he laments. You can see so much of the skin that should be covered by fabric!
To Rollo’s horror, Ruggie dares to seat himself in front of him, wearing an impish smile as he kicks up his feet. “What’s up, Rollo-kun?” Ruggie asks with a snicker.
“Don’t you ‘what’s up’ me, you charlatan. You know perfectly well what is ‘up’ here,” Rollo quips back. He prepares to pick up his food and relocate to a different spot, but finds his way blocked off by Jack of all people. Ever the loyal guard dog, he's been wary of Rollo ever since Ruggie told the big story of what went down in the City of Flowers. I'll make sure he doesn't try anything funny again! Jack swears to himself.
Cornered by the duo, Rollo is forced to sit back down. “… Are you thugs trying to intimidate me? Shake me down for all my pocket money?” he demands of them. “It won’t work. You’ll find that I am quite sufficient in the art of self-defense.”
Jack looks to Ruggie for guidance--it's him who knows the most about Rollo of the trio. He leans close to Rollo and, with a grin, says, "Aww, why the mopey face? C'mon, we're not that bad to hang out with. Leona-san just made a bad first impression~ Don't think too badly of him, he's a great guy behind it all."
Rollo casts a doubtful look at Leona, who glares back at him. "I fail to see your perspective."
"You should join us for a match of Magift after lunch then. You'll see how he rules the court and the pack." ("As though I would play around with you scoundrels," Rollo bitterly retorts. "We are not children running haphazardly on a playground.")
"Wooow, Jack," Ruggie lazily huffs. "Looks like we don't have much of a team player here, huh? You know what to do." ("Right, Ruggie-senpai!")
"Excuse me? Just what are you... W-Wait one moment!! GAAAAARGHHHHH!!" Rollo soon finds himself hoisted up and over Jack's shoulder, ferried off to Savanaclaw's Magift stadium.
"Leona-saaan! Everything's in place," Ruggie calls to his dorm leader. Leona wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and smirks. "... Good going, Ruggie. We've got him right where we want him. Now let's see what this herbivore's really made of."
Rollo doesn't realize it, but Leona's been carefully observing him ever since he stepped foot in Savanaclaw. Everything, from the controlled way he looks and talks, implies to Leona that Rollo's putting on a mask--and he fully intends to rip that mask off, revealing his true face.
("Eh, but I already told you everything there is to tell," Ruggie had complained. "Why are we even doing this?" "You're still being paid, aren't you? If I were you, I'd shut your trap before I take back that bonus," Leona replied.)
They're out on the field now. Rollo finds himself surrounded by mob students, each of them looking like they want to tear right into him. When Leona saunters over, disc in hand, they all clear a path for him. "You know how to play?" he asks, to which Rollo scowls.
"I refuse to entertain this charade." With that, Rollo turns on his heel and begins to walk away. He half expects the dorm leader to send his pack after him, but instead he just hears Leona going, "... Suit yourself then. Think fast."
The disc comes whizzing at him, hard and fast, followed by a strong blow of Leona’s wind magic. Rollo doesn't have time to think, it's going to collide with him if he doesn’t—
Against his better judgment, Rollo’s body springs into action. The ring upon his right hand gleams with a dazzling light, magically repelling the disc flying at him and expelling the magical winds. The disc anticlimactically clatters to the ground, and shame floods Rollo—how could he have reacted like that, let magic guide his body?
The lion beastman wears the most self-satisfied smirk Rollo has ever witnessed. “Heh. I knew you had it in you, herbivore. You’re stronger than you look.” He motions, and the Savanaclaw students move in on his command. “Don’t go easy on him.”
“S-Sir! Isn’t this too much?!” Jack objects—the only one of the pack to do so. Rollo would have praised his moral compass had Jack not already played a part in the act. Villains, all of them.
“Jack,” Leona drawls, “I’m shocked to hear that from you. You saw what the man did just now. That’s a high-level defensive spell he cast on a whim. It’d be in poor taste to ‘play nice’ with him—it’d belittle his competence as a mage.”
When he puts it like that, Jack has no choice but to step down and concede with his dorm leader’s logic. Rollo’s absolutely appalled and flabbergasted at Leona’s charisma and skillful twisting of the truth. Perhaps he underestimated him after all—it’s now clear to Rollo that Leona is very, very dangerous.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” Leona asks, this time of Rollo. “Pick it up. Pick. It. Up.”
He does, and he makes a run for it.
So begins a ruthless game of cat and mouse on broomsticks, the entire dorm against Rollo. He detests every second of it, doing his best to survive with as little magic as possible amongst the beasts hounding him. Alas, he has to expend some to get out of a few close calls—namely with Leona blasting him.
Rollo comes close to exploding on the spot when he catches some of the Savanaclaw students tearing off their shirts or lifting them to mop up the sweat on their foreheads, giving him (unwanted) glimpses of their toned bodies. “Disgusting…! Deplorable…! Shameless…!” He mutters such accusations all the darn day.
Leona at last calls his goons off and they scatter like the last vestiges of sunlight as the night closes in. It’s just the two of them upon a moonlit stage, staring the other down with suspicious eyes.
Rollo falls, out of breath and head spiraling from exhaustion. Dread courses through his veins when Leona’s shadow falls over him. The lion doesn’t attack or taunt, only smirks. “… You did well. For an herbivore, that is.”
Leona chucks a water bottle at him and collapses beside Rollo, chugging a bottle of his own. Rollo steadily sits up, but dares not drink the water offered to him. He clenches it tightly in his hand. “I’m not in need of your approval, Leona-kun.”
“No one said I was giving it to you.”
They sit in silence for a few moments more, Leona’s gaze fixed on the stars and Rollo staring at Leona. Confused, without answers. “… Why did you accost me?” he demands to know.
“Wanted to confirm a hunch. If we’re going to be forced to host a guest, might as well get something out of it. Cats have their curiosity, you know.” Leona swigs the last of his water and crunches he bottle that remains. “… I heard about you from Ruggie.” A harsh laugh. “Real dumb shit you tried to pull there.”
“Thank you for the reminder,” Rollo snaps.
Leona’s lip curls. He’s not offended—no, he’s mildly amused. “I know your type. You think you’re above it all, that you can prove everyone wrong. Got lofty ambitions. Then the world kicks you down and you have to claw your way back up to where you once were.”
The accusation catches him off-guard, and Rollo immediately takes becomes defensive. “Wh-What… What could you possibly know about me?!” You don’t know what I’ve been through, how much I’ve suffered! How much he suffered…!
“… I don’t,” Leona confesses nonchalantly, “but I know we’ve both got a bone to pick with the lizard, and that’s enough.“ He could offer more advice, more consolation. Be better. Change. Don’t be like me. But he doesn’t.
It’s then that the realization hits Rollo—this man, this villain, sitting beside him, must have experiences akin to his own. A quiet understanding. Rollo’s expression complicates, and he can’t bring himself to meet Leona’s eyes again. In the darkness, they’re bright and piercing, seeking souls to swallow.
"… Life's not fair, is it?" Leona simpers.
"... No. No, it's not."
Rollo lifts his head to the stars, wondering if his brother is watching over him from on above. He allows his eyes to drift shut, and he slowly drinks in the night, savoring its taste.
Rollo’s about to say something else to Leona—a question, a comment, a prayer? But when he looks back, Leona has already dozed off. Rollo sighs and shakes his head. “Honestly… you Night Raven College students are as incorrigible as they come.”
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