Classy, Controlled Chaos - The STEAM Team Adventures

☁️ Seven Days [1/7] ☁️

Marshall's POV:

When Tia came back from Northwynd for the first time since the whole ordeal with Blackthorne and Secret, we were shocked at her physical appearance.

She had a sleeker build, which I'm assuming she worked out for.

There were no more bandages crisscrossed on her body other than the one on her left arm and the wrap that covered the still-healing wound across her upper chest.

A small, square patch of gauze sat on her right cheek, probably from a small injury or maybe just for looks.

We were all sitting on the Weeping Willow's balcony when we heard the grand doors open.

"Tia!" Addison called, watching the captain walk through the doors. "You're back!"

"Hi!" She smiled, waving at her from here she stood on the ground. "How've you guys been? Haven't seen you all week."

"Bored," Sophii yawned from where she was snoozing on the guard railing. "Nothing to do..."

I shot her a look. "Bored, you say? How about we do a couple of quick chores..."

"Never mind." The shadowshifter meowed, batting at my glove with one paw. "I'm bored and I wanna do something fun, not something to bore me even more."

Tia scaled the bookshelves, running across the top of each shelf before making one final leap to get to the balcony.

She snagged on the ledge with one hand, swinging herself onto the platform with the use of her flexible tail. "Ha! Arthur taught me that one. He taught me a lot of stuff over the past week."

Addison gave me a side glance as the captain strode over to greet us, smiling brightly.

"How've you all been, then?" She asked, lashing her whale tail. "Good news, bad news, updates?"

"Nothing much." I replied, crossing my arms. "Went back to doing a little bit of math and might have solved a couple problems... Quadratics is fun, especially once you know how to traumatize people with it."

"Y'know what else is fun?" Addison piped up, pulling her hood down. "Poetry! Specifically romantic poetry... Or romance. Actually no, just romance."

Tia rolled her eyes. "That's blatantly obvious coming from you, Addi. In a good way, of course."

"Earlier this week I made a trip to Birchshire and picked up the newest copy of their latest romance novel!" The librarian smiled, holding up a magenta paperback copy of a novel. "It's so good... I pulled an all-nighter finishing it."

"You pulled an all-nighter without me?" I feigned disappointment, putting up my best display of puppy eyes. "How could you, Addi?"

"Marsh, c'mon," She sighed, crossing her arms. "I don't think you like romance novels anyway..."

"You never asked me if I did." I cocked an eyebrow at her, and she gave me a questionable look.

"We don't question what Addison does in the middle of the night, period." Sophii chimed in, springing off of the guard railing and rubbing herself up against my boots. "There's a reason why her room is blocked by a special forcefield that only she can pass through."

Tia stared at the shadowshifter, mildly concerned. "How did you figure that out?"

"Easy," She began, neatly folding one paw over the other. "I tried escaping the stupid plant thing and ran into her room, only to crash headfirst into the invisible wall... Remind me not to do that again."

"Speaking of that gruesome event," I chuckled nervously, eyeing between the three of them. "Where is Blackthorne's body?"

Addison gave me a startled look. "I thought you put him out of his misery?"