Fen disliked leaving the Deucalion nowadays.
Ever since the Concerned Citizens of Nevermoor began to gain supporters, it hadn't been safe for Wunimals to walk the streets.
Jupiter had been trying to keep Morrigan and Jack sheltered from the insanity brewing in the streets, but it was getting harder and harder.
And then came the eve of Frank's end-of-summer Sunset Gala.
Kedgeree, the concierge, rounded up Fen and the rest of the staff, and put them on high alert. At the first sign of trouble, they were to stop the party cold-turkey.
At first, it seemed to be going very well. The guests were raving about the sights, the sounds, the smells, the food.....
Fen stuck by Morrigan, Jack, Cadence, and Hawthorne, certain that those four would find some way to cause an interesting amount of trouble, and she was not disappointed.
"Utterly disgraceful." A woman standing nearby wrinkled her nose as a celebrity dogwun entered the room. "The Deucalion really is going to the dogs, if that's the sort of riffraff they're letting in." She said to the man next to her. He nodded in agreement. "Someone should call the pound and have that pooch taken away." They giggled. Fen bristled. She may be a Magnificat, but nobody had the right to talk about anyone like that: human, Wunimal, or Unnimal. She was about to step in when Hawthorne said loudly:
"She's not a dog, she's a dogwun."
They turned and glared at the thirteen-year-old. The man scoffed. "Dogwun. Rubbish. If it's got four legs, a wet nose, and a tail, it's a dog. In my day, we called things by their real names- none of this horsewun, rabbitwun, lizardwun nonsense. I'm sick of having to be respectful all the time." He finished his drink in one go and called for another.
Morrigan turned to her friends. "What's wrong with being respectful?"
What's wrong, indeed? Thought Fen. At least Morrigan and the other children had manners.
Jack mumbled something that Fen couldn't hear, and Cadence replied, causing the whole group to burst into laughter.
"What did you just say?" The woman screeched. She waltzed over to the desk and got right into Cadence's face. "What. Did. You. Just. Say?" She hissed. Fen could see a little bit of spit barely miss Cadence's face. Cadence, however, didn't even flinch. " I said," Cadence replied, calmly, "'You've only got one brain cell between you. Would you like me to sing it?"
Whup, time to step in.
"Is there a problem here?" Fen planted herself in between the two groups. The woman stared at her in revulsion.
"Another talking unnimal! Who in the Seven Pockets wrote this guest list? They ought to be arrested for crimes against decency."
Keep it together, Fen.
"Not an unnimal." She said, as politely as she could. "Not a guest. I work here. How can I help?"
"A cat? Working at a five-star hotel?" The man cut in. "Glad we're not staying the night, darling, we might get fleas."
Keep it together, Fen.
"It's a nine-star hotel. I don't have fleas. And I'm not a cat."
The man rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Catwun."
"Not a catwun, either." I'm clearly much too large to be a catwun. "I'm a Magnificat, it's a whole other thing. Read a book, for goodness' sake."
The woman flinched. "You're very rude."
Look who's talking.
"YOU'RE very rude. And your dress is ugly."
The woman flinched. "EXCUSE me-"
"No, I won't excuse you, or your behavior," Fen interrupted. She was really mad now, and had no intention of stopping now. "You're a bully and a bigot and frankly I've no idea how either of you made it onto the guest list. I can only assume you're gate-crashing."
"Ah, Fen?" Jack tugged at her fur. "Maybe we should just ignore-"
"We shouldn't ignore bigotry, Jack. That's how cowardly bigots turn into brave bigots."
"How dare you!" The man sputtered in shock. "We shan't return to the Hotel Deucalion if this is the sort of treatment-"
"You shan't return to the Hotel Deucalion because there'll be a great big sign behind the check-in desk with your faces on it, saying NO ADMISSION."
After that, it was all a blur. Fen remembered snarling at the two, someone yelling "The cat has Hollowpox!" and then hundreds of people swarmed her, trying to do... Something that apparently involved attacking her, and then suddenly everything went dark.
When the lights came back on, three wunimals were on the floor.
Hollowpox.
Another mad scramble, this time to escape the party, occurred.
The staff and the children were left standing in the silent lobby, utterly flabbergasted.
Finally, Hawthorne broke the silence.
"Some party, huh?'
YOU ARE READING
Mogtober 2022
RandomYes, I'm doing the Mogtober thing. It's a Nevermoor thing, don't worry.
