Lily Flower

Licorice: The Institute (2)

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TW: Euthanization(?), a bit of re-iteration of what happens in the last chapter or so.

Licorice draws some right conclusions and some wrong ones. Strawberry Crepe is a concerned sweet bean. Dark Choco shows up. The Blueberry Institute arc finally closes.

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Licorice was still angry.

So it's been two days, sue him. He could probably recognize that he was being obstinate, but in his defense, he had to stew in a camp for two days, while both Healer and the Dark Enchantress were intent to keep him out of the loop. There was nothing to do except for a few menial tasks, so the longer they stayed around, the more restless he got.

Strawberry Crepe was also in quite the state. Healer had managed to worm into their consciousness quickly and they have been worrying over him constantly. They had even referred to him as "their liege" once or twice, playing at some sort of fantasy. He was reminded that despite their independence, they were rather childish. This, in turn, upset him more since it shed a clear light on all the things they have said to him in the past. Licorice made an effort to keep from showing his negativity, but he couldn't speak for how effective he was.

Their master had tried to reach them several more times, and in each instance, the child had just let the ringtone play out until she gave up. After the third and final time, they climbed out of their mech and tried to do chores manually, without much success. They then refused to help at all, and Licorice had to work by himself. No one was happy.

Licorice wasn't able to parse what Healer had done to block his master's voice, so the mech was their only option for communication. He had considered going against the kid's wishes to talk to her, if only to push the blame away from himself, but they were so on edge that he didn't want to trigger them to run away. Forcing them to speak to the Dark Enchantress would feel like kicking the dog.

Find some firewood. Cook. Fix the tents. Sit there until Healer gets back. Look at fish nearby and try not to think about the situation.

Think about the situation.

This was so infuriating. The reaper kicked his reflection in the water, distorting his image as the ripples flowed outwards.

By all means, he should have hated him. Healer was everything he wasn't: An intelligent, personable, powerful mage who had the freedom to choose to be a healer rather than being forced to use his power to survive.

He had never had a bad impression of the blonde. Sure, there was the initial humiliation of being found soaked and half drowning in a river, but the other had given him no grief over it. The Dark Enchantress's obvious favor made him suspicious, but that wariness also died a quick death when Healer immediately started being protective over Dark Choco, someone who he had apparently gone years without talking to. He couldn't detest someone who was so considerate, especially since that consideration was also directed at him. Healer may have been the only cookie besides Poison Mushroom who viewed him without apathy, condescension, hatred, or some mix of the three.

Once that veil was ripped, then he could actually be excited that, oh, there was another mage in the castle!

Upon speaking to him further, Healer strayed somewhat from his first impression. Although he was undeniably a good person (a strange thing to be in their group), his moral bounds were slightly different from the classic light user's. He possessed a clear respect for dark magic and a mysterious hidden identity that was intertwined with their master's.

That's actually what he had been trying to ignore for the last two days.

He may not have the context of their past, but he was not some dull-witted jelly beast. There was something obviously, deeply wrong with the way they had interacted. The way that the Dark Enchantress had treated the blonde felt...borderline abusive, if he would dare to insinuate such as such. It reminded him somewhat of the dynamic between the swordsman and the priestess.