The Next Day

“Creators’ Day is in two weeks?!”

“Less than two, technically,” Phoenix replied to Sky’s distressed exclamation. “If you go by Nimalian weeks, anyways.”

“Agh, we still don’t even have a performance put together that we could rehearse!” Sky remarked, and then jumped out of the seat behind her desk. “C’mon, everyone! We have work to do!”

“I see someone’s sure fired up,” Conrad commented from the back of the classroom.

“Today’s classes only just ended, too…” Twy muttered as she passed a glance toward one of the windows in the dreary WCU classroom. Bright mid-afternoon sunlight shone upon the eight Earthian Keys still loitering in the room, with Kaoné just having wrapped up the day’s lessons.

“It’s nice to see that you’re excited for Creators’ Day,” Kaoné said from the front of the room, while still packing up her teaching materials. “But don’t neglect your classwork, either.”

“Ugh, I know, I’ll be fine,” Sky insisted, only to turn to Twy and Kestrel — who both sat near her — to grab their sleeves and begin tugging. “C’mon, already, let’s get going!”

“You need to chill,” Phoenix insisted as Kestrel brushed off Sky’s hand, though stood all the same. “I agree that we need to get serious about this project, but panicking in front of everyone isn’t the way to do it.”

“And Kaoné’s right, we do have homework and studying to do,” Twy pointed out.

“Don’t worry about that,” Spike declared. “When y’all are done workin’ on your project for today, Austin and I can help with your studyin’ and other work. Right, Austin?”

“Don’t volunteer me for studying,” Austin protested. “…Though I guess workin’ together should make it easier…”

“Exactly! Thanks, Spike, I knew you’d understand!” Sky skipped over to Spike’s still-seated side to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing toward the classroom’s exit. “Now, Twy, Kestrel, Phoenix, let’s get a move on!”

“My… she’s certainly excitable, isn’t she?” Kaoné remarked after Sky had left the room.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Twy drawled as she picked up her things and began moving toward the room’s exit herself, with Phoenix and Kestrel following suit. “Anyways… we’ll be off. I’ll see you two later, Austin, Spike.”

“Same to you, Pierce and Conrad,” Phoenix said. “Don’t forget to study, yourselves!”

“As if you need to tell me that,” Pierce retorted. Phoenix rolled her eyes in response, but said nothing more before she left the room with Twy and Kestrel.

“Well,” Kaoné said, turning her attention back to the four remaining in the classroom. “Do any of you have anything planned for Creators’ Day?”

“I kinda wanna do something, but… I don’t know what,” Austin replied.

“Knowing you, it’d probably be some nerd shit,” Pierce remarked. “You going to try showing the Nimalians your video games, dweeb?”

“You say that like you don’t play games yourself,” Conrad said.

“There’s nothing wrong with liking video games, anyways,” Austin declared. “…I dunno if showin’ off any of my games would be appropriate, though. I didn’t make them, after all…”

“Hey, it’s still art, or a creation, or whatever,” Spike pointed out, and then glanced toward Kaoné. “Wouldn’t that work?”

“Eh… kind of, I suppose,” the Dean replied. “While Creators’ Day was first started to celebrate creations and the act of creating, in practice, most people will only show off something that they made, themselves. Trying to show off someone else’s creation can often be seen as you trying to take credit for it.”

“Oh…”

“I mean, it makes sense,” Austin said. “It makes it harder to come up with something, sure, but I totally get it.”

“Have you ever even made anything, yourself?” Pierce questioned.

“More than you have, I bet!” Austin countered. “I’ve actually done a bit of writing and drawing, you know!”

“As a kid? Sure, you and half the planet, dweeb. Even I tried drawing when I was younger. Doesn’t mean I can do it now.”

“Yep, that’s Pierce, for you,” Conrad deadpanned. “The never-creator. The ultimate consumer.”

“Says the asshole who naps and eats all day long,” Pierce shot back.

“I guess none of us are much good at this creatin’ stuff, huh,” Spike mused.

“You don’t have to force yourselves to make something,” Kaoné said. “Creators’ Day isn’t just a day for making things, it’s also a day for appreciating the things that others have made. Many Nimalians don’t actually make something for Creators’ Day, so it isn’t like you’d be out of place.”

“’Many’ don’t?!” Austin echoed incredulously. “That’s still a lot that do, then!”

“How much of that is cooks?” Conrad questioned.

“You fucking unrepentant glutton,” Pierce chided.

“Hey, it isn’t like you dislike good food, either.”

“I don’t really know how Creators’ Day usually goes in Compound Tresnon…” Kaoné admitted, “but given what I’ve heard from Davídrius, I think they do tend to have a greater proportion of cooks and material crafters here than elsewhere. People who make more, shall we say, ‘practical’ items.”

“So they don’t really do stories or singing or art, or any of that stuff?” Austin mused.

“I’m not saying that,” Kaoné quickly replied. “Tresédians still like story-telling and art, they just — on average — place a higher emphasis on practical, physical goods. They’ll still enjoy a good story or a good game every now and then. Even the ACT was originally a Tresédian idea.”

“Wait, does physical competition count for Creators’ Day?” Pierce asked.

“Not… usually, no. But if you could find a way to make it work, then more power to you.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to do something cheesy,” Conrad questioned as he looked over at Pierce. “Like ‘creating muscles’ or ‘creating records’ or something.”

“Oh come on, I’m not a fucking dweeb,” Pierce shot back.

“A good story or a good game, though…” Austin mused, a hand to his chin in thought. A second later, realization washed across his features. “Oh, of course! I could do a one-shot!”

“…A what?” Conrad questioned cluelessly.

“A one-shot? Like an RPG?” Pierce scoffed. “Damn, you really are a dweeb.”

“So you say, but how did you realize so quickly what I meant, huh?” Austin challenged.

“I’m sorry, what are we talking about…?” Kaoné asked.

“’RPG’ stands for ‘role-playing game’,” Austin explained. “On Earth — well, I guess they might be on Nimalia, too, but I only know them from Earth — anyways, we have games called tabletop RPGs, which is basically a bunch of people coming together to play a game and tell a story. And a ‘one-shot’ is when you set up a game so that the players can experience the entire story in one sitting, usually a few hours long, or so.”

“I see… I think I recall you mentioning that once, before. I believe that something similar exists here on Nimalia, though I’ve never played them myself…”

“Oh yeah, it involves lots of dice rolling and stuff, right?” Conrad questioned. “I think I tried one of those, once, with Pierce and the others.”

“That was years ago,” Pierce insisted.

“Oh reeeaally?” Austin passed Pierce a smug look. “Who’s the dweeb now, huh?”

“Playing those games as a kid is way different from playing them as an adult,” Pierce countered. “I don’t need to waste my time playing make-believe in some asshole’s own personal fantasy world, not when the real world is right there to admire.”

“That’s unnecessarily harsh,” Kaoné interjected. “There’s nothing wrong with indulging in fiction every now and then.”

“Yeah,” Austin affirmed. “I take it you never read, then, Pierce? Or watch movies? Play games?”

“Shove it, dweeb,” Pierce retorted, finally standing from his desk and sweeping all of his things into his bag. “I won’t stop you from outing yourself as a nerd to the people here, just don’t get me involved in it.”

“It’s more fun than you’d think,” Spike said.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Pierce deadpanned as he approached the room’s exit. He stopped to give a quick wave and a smirk, remarking, “later, losers. I have a date to get to.”

“…How the hell does a guy like him get dates?!” Austin questioned once Pierce had left the room.

“I ask myself that all the time,” Conrad said, and then looked over at Austin. “…So you’re going to do this ‘one-shot’ thing, huh?”

“Well… maybe. It’s just an idea. With two weeks, though… that should be long enough to set something up. Yeah, yeah… maybe I will do this.”

“If you need any help, feel free to ask,” Spike remarked. “With the twins workin’ on their own project, I’ve got plenty of free time.”

“I have to admit, I’m kinda curious about this, too,” Conrad added. “As long as there isn’t too much effort involved, at least.”

“There’s usually a lot less effort on the player side, with these things,” Austin declared. “…Oh, that could be it! I’ll make the one-shot and teach you the basics of the system, Conrad, and then on Creators’ Day, you can play the mentor-type character to help get any newbies into the game!”

“You want me to teach…?”

“Ah, I’m just brainstorming. …But the more I think about it, the more I think this can actually work. After all, you seem like the passive type, Conrad, so I won’t have to worry about you trying to steal the spotlight if I give you the mentor character!”

“I feel like I should be annoyed that you said that, but…” Conrad shrugged. “Well, you’re not wrong. Sounds good to me, I guess.”

“It sounds like you’ve worked something out, then!” Kaoné remarked with a smile. “If you need anything from me, don’t hesitate to ask!”

“Yeah, got it!” Austin replied as he readily stood from his own desk, prompting Spike and Conrad to finally do so themselves. “Alright, it’s planning time! Spike, Conrad, I’ll get back to y’all by the end of the week with a plan! It won’t be as elaborate as what the girls are doin’, but we finally got a plan for Creators’ Day!”

---

*

“So we really are going with a Japanese song, huh.”

“Well, yeah?” Sky regarded Phoenix with an annoyed look as she waved a piece of paper through the air. “I thought we already decided on this! I wrote this forever ago!”

“To be honest, I half expected you to give up halfway through editing it and just rewrite the song in English…” Twy admitted.

“Well, screw your expectations, I did it!” Sky slammed the piece of paper down on top of the desk in her room, where she, Twy, Phoenix, and Kestrel were currently meeting to discuss their Creators’ Day project. Mid-afternoon sunlight shone through the room’s lone window, which Phoenix was standing beside, her attention split between the discussion and watching the world outside. Kestrel sat cross-legged on the floor, her expression stoic as ever, while Twy sat on Sky’s bed with a handful of sketches to her side.

“Did you actually do an editing pass on that?” Phoenix questioned while gesturing toward Sky’s paper. “You know, to make sure the grammar is all right?”

“Meh, it’s fine,” Sky insisted.

“That’s not a very inspiring response…” Twy muttered, and then passed Kestrel a glance. “But have you had a chance to work on the music yet, Kestrel? Is it done?”

Kestrel shook her head. “A couple days,” she replied.

“Right… I guess typical songwriting has you write the lyrics before you make the actual music, huh? And we didn’t exactly have a lot of free time, last week…”

“I understand you wanted to write a pop song, Sky,” Phoenix remarked, “but… are you sure these lyrics actually make sense? What do they even say?”

“Well, at first I wanted to do pop, but then I realized it didn’t really fit very well with the ‘nature’ theme,” Sky said. “So I went with something a little slower, less energetic, you know? And the lyrics are just about mountains and snow and stuff, don’t worry.”

“’Mountains and snow and stuff’?” Phoenix echoed incredulously. “You aren’t exactly filling me with confidence, here!”

“Are you sure this is okay…?” Twy questioned.

“Oh c’mon, guys, this isn’t the first time I’ve written a song, you know!” Sky exclaimed.

“Sure, but I think it is the first time you’ve written a song in a language that isn’t English,” Twy replied.

“I’m allowed to branch out every now and then, aren’t I?!”

“I’m not saying you aren’t, but…” Phoenix paused for a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose in mild frustration as she thought out her next words. “…Maybe we should at least get someone fluent in Japanese to review your lyrics?”

“Meh,” Sky responded dismissively. “It isn’t like anyone here will actually understand the song, so why does it matter?”

“Should do this right,” Kestrel said.

“Yeah, I agree,” Twy affirmed. “We can’t just use the fact that no one will understand your song as an excuse to write gibberish. That would be pretty disrespectful, I feel. Besides, weren’t you the one who argued that lyrics are supposed to be meaningful?”

“…I guess…” Sky reluctantly admitted. “But… who would I ask, who knows Japanese? Trying to reach our family over Relaynet is really hard, and even if it wasn’t, our siblings are both busy. And you know Mom would sooner lecture me about ‘wasting time on useless stuff’ than give actual feedback on a song I wrote.”

“There’s Colonel Saito,” Phoenix pointed out. “I don’t like having to rely on him, but he is Japanese.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure a military Colonel is gonna want to help me with a song,” Sky drawled.

“He might,” Twy said. “Mark and Danielle both seem to think highly of the Colonel, and everyone else in CSF-1. Luke seems to like him, too.”

“We’re talking about the guy who worked us to the fucking bone the second SERRCom picked us up!” Sky insisted.

“Well… yes,” Twy admitted, “but I think that was just him putting on a drill sergeant persona. He’s never acted anywhere near that harshly since the first day.”

“If you don’t want to speak to him that badly, then I can do it for you,” Phoenix offered.

“No, no… I can do it,” Sky responded with a sigh. “So we want to run my lyrics by someone else, huh…”

“Just to make sure they make sense,” Twy quickly added. “I’m sure they sound great, I just want to make sure that we aren’t bastardizing the language.”

“I suppose I still have something to work with for the outfit, though…” Phoenix mused. “A slower song, in Japanese, huh? …The first outfit that comes to mind is a kimono, but—“

“A yukata would probably be more appropriate,” Twy interjected. “Kimonos are more formal.”

“Oh man, I hadn’t even thought of that!” Sky exclaimed. “Do I finally have a reason to wear a yukata?!”

“You’ve worn one before…”

“That doesn’t change my question.”

“I see you really like the idea,” Phoenix remarked, only to frown. “The thing is, I don’t think it’s possible to get our hands on a kimono or a yukata before Creators’ Day. They don’t sell them here — hell, I don’t think you’d be able to find one on Nimalia, at all. We’d have to get one shipped from Earth, which would be hella expensive and take forever, to boot.”

“Oh… right,” Sky replied, dejected.

“I can see about replicating the style with Tresédian robes, though…” Phoenix mused as she turned to look out over the buildings of Compound Tresnon through the window in Sky’s room. “A needle and some thread will do wonders. Although…”

“With some sewing skill, you can make any outfit that you want, sure,” Twy replied, “but that still depends on the fabric, right? You don’t need silk for a yukata, but the fabric they use here in Treséd seems a little too coarse, or thick…”

“I think the stuff here is still cotton, or something similar to cotton, right?” Sky said. “It’s definitely rougher than my own clothes, but it washes the same. It’s probably usable, right, Phoenix? …Phoenix?”

Phoenix didn’t respond; instead, her expression had fouled up into a nasty scowl as she stared at something outside. Twy and Sky passed each other a clueless glance before Sky got up from her desk chair to see what Phoenix was looking at. Down on the sands below, in the middle of WCU’s courtyard, Sky laid eyes on Pierce — just as he met with Liask, the two exchanging smiles and some conversation before turning toward the campus gates.

After spotting this, Sky turned to give Phoenix an incredulous look. “Really? This is what you’re staring at?”

“I just don’t get it…” Phoenix muttered. “He broke up with that girl, right? So why are they back together? He’s never made up with someone before, this just doesn’t make any sense…”

“Who…?” Twy questioned, still seated on Sky’s bed.

“It’s Pierce,” Sky deadpanned, and then glanced back at Phoenix. “Hey, why does it even matter what he’s doing, huh?”

“It matters because he’s faking it… he has to be,” Phoenix insisted. “This isn’t like him, at all.”

“…Contest?” Kestrel said.

“Wait…” Twy looked uneasily between Kestrel and Phoenix. “You mean… that ‘dating’ contest you had with Pierce? Is that really a thing? You’re taking that seriously?”

“I can’t just let him win,” Phoenix countered.

“Really,” Sky responded flatly. “You know, you talk shit about Pierce a lot, but you sure act like him a lot, too.”

Phoenix’s nostrils flared and her brow deeply furrowed, as though she had just received the most grievous insult of all time. “I do not act like Pierce!” she declared indignantly.

“I dunno, Pierce gets pretty defensive like that, too,” Sky replied.

“Sure, but so does Austin…” Twy pointed out.

Sky shrugged in response. “Look, Phoenix, I’m just saying. If you think you’re so much better than Pierce, then why bother taking petty shit like this seriously, huh?”

“You don’t know what it’s like, being friends with Pierce,” Phoenix replied. “He’ll hold even the smallest of victories over your head. You can’t give him any quarter.”

“As toxic as that is…” Twy said, “I’ve only really noticed him doing that with you and Austin. Davídrius, too, to a lesser extent, but what the three of you seem to share is that you keep reacting to Pierce’s provocations. Do you think that, maybe, that’s the only reason he taunts you?”

“I can’t just not react to an asshole being an asshole!”

“Why are you even friends with him, then?” Sky questioned. “I mean, I see Conrad hang out with Pierce a lot, too, so I guess he can’t be all bad, but, like… I don’t get it.”

“It’s also not what we’re here to talk about,” Twy pointed out.

“Mm.” Kestrel offered a single but enthusiastic nod of affirmation. “Creators’ Day.”

“Ugh… right. Sorry…” Phoenix muttered, turning away from the window as Sky drew the blinds shut. “It’s just… no. Nevermind. Anyways, what were we talking about? Fabric, or something, right?”

“Yukata.”

“Yeah, I wanna wear a yukata while I sing!” Sky remarked. “Can you make that happen, Phoenix?”

“That kind of depends on a handful of things, like…” Phoenix mused, finally returning her attention to the matter at hand and continuing her planning with Twy, Sky, and Kestrel for their Creators’ Day performance.