Lucky Rabbit

Wednesday passed much as Tuesday had, except that Pandy remembered she was supposed to attend dinner as Ms. Wellington. Fortunately, when Shifting Faces reached level three, its duration also increased to two hours, so she just barely managed to do everything she needed to do before poofing back to Bunny.

Apparently, it was the chancellor’s evening off, because he wasn’t there to see her glaring at the students, and appreciate the improvement in her acting skills. One little girl actually looked like she was going to cry after Pandy happened to glance at her when she was eating with the wrong fork, but thankfully her table-mates were able to calm her down and help her select the correct utensil.

On Thursday, Pandy caught herself doing something that her former life had taught her was dangerous: feeling confident. She had succeeded in teaching – not well, but all of the children survived, so that was a win – no one had blatantly called her out as an undead rabbit pretending to be an elemental pretending to be a real rabbit pretending to be a human, and the weekend was rapidly approaching.

Pandy had rarely experienced a true weekend. Not as it was depicted on television, anyway. She’d had a job since she was fifteen, and of course that meant working weekends. Even when she was a child, she’d spent the time helping out her foster families with household chores, which wasn’t that bad, except when the rest of the family didn’t actually do anything, and left it all to her.

But as far as she knew, Ms. Wellington didn’t have any responsibilities on the weekend. Moreover, Pandy had a bag full of money, and nowhere to spend it. Of course, she also had no idea how much Ms. Wellington was supposed to be paid, or how she was supposed to be paid, so that might be all the money she’d have for the foreseeable future, but still. Still.

So, at dinner on Thursday, she found herself turning to the chancellor, who was back in his usual place at the table. He looked a little worse for wear, with the edge of what looked like a bandage visible at the open collar of his shirt. That in and of itself was unusual, since he was generally impeccably groomed, from slicked-back hair to neatly buttoned and creased suit, but Pandy didn’t really think anything of it as words tumbled from her mouth.

“May I leave on the weekend?”

The chancellor had been staring into space, a forkful of steak hovering above his plate, and he jerked a little at her words, the fork dipping to tap against china. Pandy flushed as several people turned to look for the source of the sound, then pinched her lips together and glared back at them until they turned away.

Laying his fork down on the edge of his otherwise untouched plate, Mr. Blackwood said, “I’m sorry, what?”

Pandy bit her lip. Was she not allowed to leave, after all? Did the teachers have weekend tasks, like the rest of the staff? She was certain that Jonah and Emily Farrier would be working. Were days off even a thing in this world? She tried to remember if any of the teachers or staff had ever been gone in Gacha Love, and she couldn’t think of a single time one of them hadn’t been where they were supposed to be, even on a weekend. That made sense in a game, but-

Shaking his head, the chancellor said, “Certainly. You may leave anytime you don’t have duties that require you to be on campus.”

Pandy’s shoulders slumped in relief, and she gave him a blinding smile, which made him blink. “Can I take Thaniel with me?” Because her most important task was to watch over Thaniel, and-

“No,” he said firmly, making Pandy sink back in despair. Of course she couldn’t take a student away. She wasn’t a member of Thaniel’s family, or his official caretaker.

“But,” the chancellor went on, “I can assure you that while every student is safe at Falconet, we have taken…extra precautions when it comes to certain ones.” His eyes cautioned her not to ask any more, and while she desperately wanted to know what those precautions were, they were in a public place, albeit surrounded by people who should have no interest whatsoever in their conversation.

That left Pandy feeling more than a little conflicted. She rather desperately wanted to go…anywhere. Just because she felt like it. She had been bound to Thaniel’s side for months, and while she loved him, she needed some time to herself. She was used to having no responsibilities to anyone but herself, and while there had been a certain peace in playing the part of a domesticated rabbit, she couldn’t even hide in that anymore. Too many people knew she was something else now, and she felt eyes on her even when she thought she was alone.

Watching her thoughtfully, the chancellor said, “What were you hoping to do?”

She looked down at her own plate, only then realising that she hadn’t touched her own steak, focusing on the broccoli, mushrooms, and herbed potatoes instead. She poked gingerly at the steak with her fork, but found it had no particular appeal, and speared a chunk of potato. Pandy lifted it to her mouth, chewing slowly, half hoping that when she looked up, the chancellor would have moved on, and they could just forget this conversation ever happened.

No such luck. When she finally raised her eyes again, he was still watching her, gray eyes thoughtful behind the thin lenses of his glasses. “May I suggest you visit the market at Lanthorne Court? Several of the best shops in town set up stalls there on the weekend, selling products that have, ah, overstayed their welcome.” His eyes twinkled. “Any number of other, smaller, vendors will be there as well. The prices tend to be quite reasonable, and the selection is…eclectic.”

Eclectic was one way to put it. Lanthorne Court was the location of one of the festival events in Gacha Love, and while some of the items available were the same from one playthrough to the next, others were random, and many players spent money on extra gacha spins, trying to get the best items.

Since Pandy was so used to thinking of the market only in the context of the festival, it hadn’t even occurred to her that she could go there whenever she wanted. She’d been focused on some of the in-game shops, like Tincture and Thorn, or the Cabinet of Curiosities. She didn’t really need potions, however, and she doubted she could afford anything worthwhile at the Cabinet. Honestly, she’d been planning to go to a park, or maybe just wander around, wasting an hour or so of her precious Shifting Faces time to just be.

“Is it close?” Pandy asked. As an event location, Lanthorne Court was on the map of Knightmere, but that map wasn’t to scale, so she only knew that it was somewhere southwest of Condor, closer to Kestrel. Clara, of course, simply got into a carriage at school, and got out of that carriage after a brief cutscene, having already arrived where she was going, so that didn’t help.

Mr. Blackwood hesitated, then said, “I have some errands to run on Saturday. Would you care to go with me?” Seeing the look on her face, the corners of his mouth tightened, as if he was suppressing a smile. “I’m afraid I can’t go with you while you look around, but there’s no reason we can’t share a carriage.”

Pandy wasn’t sure if she was more relieved or disappointed that he wasn’t going to stay with her. There was no doubt that having a local guide would be helpful, and she assumed his Air elemental would be watching her anyway, but she really did want at least the pretense of being alone. “That would be good, um, thank you? What time should we-?”

“I plan to leave right after breakfast,” he told her. “If you want to go with me, meet me by the main doors.”

She nodded, but her eyes went to Thaniel. The boy looked happy enough, talking quietly to Geraldine and Eleanor, while Abbington listened and Isidor tried to pretend he wasn’t doing the same. The pets were done with their meals, and Miss Cupcakes was asleep between Thaniel and Eleanor’s feet, filling the gap where Pandy usually sat. Was she imagining things, or had the cat been sleeping even more than normal lately?

The chancellor cleared his throat, and she glanced back at him, realizing that he was waiting for her to let him know if that time would work for her. She nodded. “Right after breakfast, then.”

“Good.” He started to turn back to his plate, then paused and asked, “Have you had a chance to, ah, look at the schedule for this week? I left it on your desk.”

Pandy’s eyes widened. “Isn’t it the same every week? I mean, unless someone gets sick.”

He chuckled. “Yes and no. You aren’t scheduled for anything new, but you’re supposed to let me know if you’re planning an excursion for your Small Group on Friday.”

“Oh!” She thought fast. Most of the excursions at Condor involved fighting, but a few were just trips to see places or- Her head popped up. “Can we go to Condor?” Her face fell again. “That would take longer than fifty minutes, though.”

“Most off-campus excursions take more time than that,” he said, clearly amused. “But why take them there? Fifth-year students often visit Kestrel toward the end of the school year, but your group are all first-years. They won’t go to Condor for almost a decade.”

She knew. Honestly, she just wanted to see the school with her own eyes. The real Condor, not the miniature version that was Falconet. Shaking her head, Pandy said, “I don’t know. I guess Kestrel would make more sense, but-” But Kestrel was barely mentioned in Gacha Love, and it, like Falconet, was never actually shown.

What would it be like to actually go to Condor? To see the paths Clara walked, the garden in which she charmed her way into the hearts of her suitors, the places where Killian enacted his bloody vengeance? All right, so maybe going to Condor wasn’t such a good idea.

“Could we go to Kestrel, then? Sometime?” Pandy asked, looking back at Thaniel and the others. “Maybe some of the older students could show us around.”

Again, Mr. Blackwood’s lips curved up before he brought them back under control. “Would you have any particular students in mind for that?”

Did she ever. Pandy could have rubbed her hands together in glee at the thought. Clara wasn’t there, but Lian was, along with all four love interests, and most of the antagonists as well. Did Lady Eglantine really have golden-blonde corkscrew curls? Did Araminta Izzard-Crew already spend her days gossiping and tormenting any girl Prince Kaden showed interest in? Pandy didn’t exactly want to face their villainess vibes herself, but perhaps she could just watch…and then step in and correct them, since she was a teacher, after all.

“Maybe?” she said, then chomped on her lip. She couldn’t go yet. She only had two hours of semi-humanity each day, and she couldn’t take the chance that she would use it all up before they made it back to Falconet. No, the cast of Gacha Love were safe from her, at least for now.

“No,” she said, being as firm about it as possible. Yes, for now, it would be best to stay close to home. Besides, she already had an idea of something they could do on Friday. “We’ll stay here. Can we explore Falconet a bit more, though?”

His brows lifted. “Of course. As long as you don’t interfere with the staff or any other Small Groups, you can go anywhere you like.”

She felt a grin that probably looked a little bit feral spreading across her face, and struggled to get it under control. She wasn’t a feral sort of person by nature, but a Vorpal bunny was just as cute as a normal one, and she’d forgotten how to control her human face over the last few months. Lifting her napkin to her mouth, she dabbed at her lips.

“Then I’ll just make sure to check my desk every day,” she said, trying to shift his attention away from her slip.

He didn’t look particularly distracted, but he nodded. “Do that.” He picked up his knife and fork and began to cut his steak, clearly dismissing her, though he looked more relaxed than he had before they spoke, and tore into his steak with surprising enthusiasm.

Pandy picked at her own food until the servants came out to take away the dirty dishes and place cold bowls of pink ice-cream in front of each diner. The bowls were garnished with small flowers that looked like pansies, and without thinking, Pandy picked hers up and ate it, not even noticing what she’d done until the woman sitting on the other side of her snickered. When Pandy glanced over, she saw the woman pointedly remove her own flower and place it beside her bowl before taking a bite of her ice-cream.

The old Pandy would have been embarrassed. Everyone knew that while mint, flowers, and other, similar garnishes might technically be edible, no one actually ate them. But Pandy had been doing exactly that ever since she became a rabbit – though garnishes were few and far between at the Conroy estate. She didn’t even know the woman’s name, but it was obvious that she was among the many people who didn’t like Ms. Wellington.

There was something freeing about that. Yes, Pandy was being judged, but as someone she wasn’t. This woman wasn’t laughing at Pandy, the screw-up who couldn’t hold a job and who had once glued her hands together for three days. She was laughing at Ms. Wellington, the evil, sneaky Shadow who had tried to kidnap Thaniel and undoubtedly deserved to be taken down a few notches.

So, knowing that the only reputation she was damaging was Ms. Wellington’s, Pandy picked up the discarded flower and ate it.